Why Is Snow So White?

Question

Im Just Wondering Why Is Snow White?

Just Curious.

Answer 1

the only way to see white as a color is for an object to reflect all the colors of the visible spectrum. sometimes snow is gray or black because it falls through polluted air and mixes with the gas and dirt particles.

Answer 2

Snow is made of ice crystals, and up close the individual crystals look clear, like glass.  A large pile of snow crystals looks white for the same reason a pile of crushed glass looks white.  Incident light is partially reflected by an ice surface, again just as it is from a glass surface.  When you have a lot of partially reflecting surfaces, which you do in a snow bank, then incident light bounces around and eventually scatters back out.  Since all colors are scattered roughly equally well, the snow bank appears white.

   In fact, the ice does absorbs some light while it's bouncing around, and red light is absorbed more readily than blue light.  Thus, if you look inside a snow bank you can sometimes see a blue color.

Answer 3

it's white because the sunlight is hitting the flake and it is absorbing every other in the spectrum besides white. so only the white shows up.

Answer 4

Well actualy it is clear. but they reflect light which make it appear white.

Answer 5

Snow has a high albedo and therefore reflects the entire spectrum of colors, which makes white.

Answer 6

you are in the wrong location the snow in NYC is gray.

Answer 7

bcoz snow is water just the frozen kind.

so when u freeze water into little ice cubes... does it come out a clear white?

if not crush it up into tiny little pieces and u have... "snow"