Snow comprises huge numbers of ice crystals with lots of trapped air between them. If we could look at a single tiny ice crystal within the snow, it would look clear.
Visible light from the sun is made up of components of different wavelength (the electromagnetic spectrum as in a rainbow; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). When the light hits a single ice crystal, some of it is absorbed and some reflected back; on passing through the crystal the light changes direction due to a process called refraction, as in a prism, and can be internally reflected within the crystal.
With vast numbers of individual crystals of different form in snow, and the differing wavelengths of the components of white light, the overall effect is very complex. The resulting appearance, including reflection of much of the incident white light, is white.
2 comments
Summer Hayes says:January 4, 2013 at 12:31 am
When people have a birthmark do u get it from the same person that u were born from? Or do u just have it in your own DNA? Or is it from the 2 genders combined with the DNA where your possibly get it from? Or is it just a mark?
Summer Hayes says:January 4, 2013 at 12:40 am
How can cats see in the dark? How is it possible that they have night vision and People don’t? Why can’t we see in the dark is it because we don’t have the right Eye Vision to see at night? Or are we not meant to have it? Why is that?