Why is snow white and why is ice clear?I mean theyr both water?

Answer 1

i agree about the oxygen theory. if you think about it, ice frozen in your freezer is a solid cube. snow is a delicate mixture of flimsy patterns probably with oxygen molecules inbetween, in order to give it its delicacy. its pretty much raindrops thats frozen in mid-air. one raindrop versus a large frozen ice cube is pretty much self explanatory. if you combine the raindrops (when they're liquid) they form one big drop of water. if you combine the raindrops while they're busy freezing (during snowfalls) it forms snowflakes. no snowflake is ever the same apparently, they're made up of tiny delicate flakes which shatter once they hit a surface on earth. if you crush ice, they take on a whitish colour, probably because during the act of crushing it, you incorporate air. yup, colours and coloration are quite interesting, its what makes art so remarkable. for instance, the sky appears blue (but its really colourless) because its a reflection of the sea, yet, sea water is also colourless (if you scoop some up in a glass you'll see) its merely the creatures and other factors that add colour to certain things. some water (like the water in my aquarium sometimes) are green and stay green when there is too much of an algae build up...certain chemical substances change colour when heated, or, as you've made us aware, when frozen. oh well, hope this got you thinking...
oh well, thats my take on it...

Answer 2

From How Stuff Works:

"Snow is a whole bunch of individual ice crystals arranged together. When a light photon enters a layer of snow, it goes through an ice crystal on the top, which changes its direction slightly and sends it on to a new ice crystal, which does the same thing. Basically, all the crystals bounce the light all around so that it comes right back out of the snow pile. It does the same thing to all the different light frequencies, so all colors of light are bounced back out. The "color" of all the frequencies in the visible spectrum combined in equal measure is white, so this is the color we see in snow, while it is not the color we see in the individual ice crystals that form snow."

"Ice is not transparent; it's actually translucent. This means that the light photons don't pass right through the material in a direct path -- the material's particles change the light's direction. This happens because the distances between some atoms in the ice's molecular structure are close to the height of light wavelengths, which means the light photons will interact with the structures. The result is that the light photon's path is altered and it exits the ice in a different direction than it entered the ice."

Hope this answers your question -- the link below goes into even more detail on it if you are interested.

Answer 3

Ice isn't always clear.

If there's mud, dirty water or other things in ice it's often off color and there's even such a thing as black ice. Ice also isn't always completely clear, it's often cloudy even when made under ideal circumstances.

Ice is clear (well technically translucent) because it's just the very solid state of water and light can more easily pass through it.

Since snow is made up of many snow flakes (which themselves are actually ice crystals) which line up next to one another and refract the light. As a result snow is usually white since snow is lots of little pieces rather than one solid block.

Answer 4

If you look closey at a little peice of clean snow, its clear. But when you put snow together, dust, atmosphere, and other snow cover it and block the clearness. Since ice is big, its hard to block it. Also, snow has little bits of ice dust on the outside. Have you ever looked at an ice that just got out of the freezer?

Answer 5

Snow contains oxygen, just water as it was frozen in the air.

Commercial ice has been boiled prior to freezing, This removes the oxygen adn makes a clear product. Your ice in your ice maker at home is usually cloudy, too. It has oxygen in it as well.

Answer 6

seems there's a Ben & Jerry's ice cream that's espresso with chunks of chocolate and peanut butter. i could be incorrect on that. If there is no longer then i could want to invent it and patent it too, lol! Sooo, my answer after that's espresso Ice cream!

Answer 7

Hi,,, i think it has to do with the air in the ice... and how the snow is wind blown ,,, up and down before it flakes.. .

good luck

Answer 8

because Ice is more solid. Haven't you ever noticed that ice cubes in a tray get whiter as they get harder?

Answer 9

One is a solid and one is a liquid.

Answer 10

water yes.. in different forms though would make anything a different color!