Pretty much the title. There are lakes with light blue water, and lakes with almost black water, but when you put them in a glass, they’re both transparent. Why does the lake/river/sea/etc change the color of the water? (I’m not sure about the flair, but I think it’s chemical?)
In: Chemistry
There are many reasons why different lakes have different colors. One thing you should notice is if you take a glass of water from the lake, it should be mostly clear. Sometimes it isnt but most of the time it is. The reason for that is different depending on the color.
If a lake is blue, its because it reflects the sky (kinda like a mirror!) and depending on how deep it is, the darker or brighter it can be.
Green lakes often imply algae or similar things being dissolved or in it, its not harmful, its just like grass for water in some sense.
Other color and variations can come from minerals and salts. Sometimes it can be more red or brown because of that. Generally it isnt unsafe (unless a sign says so) however I wouldnt recommend drinking it either as it has different minerals and impurities.
TL;DR Its a mix of the color of the sky, minerals, dirt, algea and whatever else is around. thats all blended together and you add other factors such as the depth of the lake or how many rivers flow into it which in turn creates the different colors of a lake or a sea
The dissolved salts and minerals in the water, each body of water is fed by different sources carrying different material, and some keep that material moving like the Nile with it’s supposed silt, and some like the Dead Sea collect all of it And become more concentrated as water evaporates.
But most of these bodies of water aren’t concentrated *enough* for us to tell by looking at a small sample like your glass is. If your glass was 20 feet deep, you could look down the glass and the water would have a different color than if you looked through it from the side, because more and more natural light will be absorbed by the molecules.
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