How come snow is white, and ice is clear if they are made up of water?

Answer 1

Snowflakes are a conglomeration of ice crystals grouped together. Light entering the ice crystals is reflected among and within the ice crystals. Since all frequencies (or colors) of the light spectrum are reflected equally, and since the equal combination of all frequencies in the visible spectrum of our eyes appears white, the snow also appears white.

Answer 2

Snowflakes are a conglomeration of ice crystals grouped together. Light entering the ice crystals is reflected among and within the ice crystals. Also ice is a solid and snow flakes are more of a liquid and vapor.

Answer 3

the light that enters the snow
bounces all around inside the pile of snow
(off the individual ice crystals in there)
and comes back out.

all the light comes back out.
all the frequencies of the light.
all the frequencies in the visible spectrum of light combined = whiteness
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question524.htm

sometimes SOME of the light
is "absorbed" by the snow
(and doesn't bounce back out).
the "reds" of the light
are more easily absorbed than the "blues",
so the blue color
bounces back out to your eye,
and the snow looks bluish.
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/faqs/faqs.htm

sometimes,
"...a cold, dry night...squeezes the last moisture out of the air and onto the top layer of snowflakes, where it crystallizes in a faceted pattern similar to ... a diamond. these little torture chambers bend and split light into its rainbow of wavelengths the way a prism does....so you'll see color flashes of light on the snow..."
http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon971003/skinnyon.html

Answer 4

I believe it's because ice is in a more ordered crystalline state.

Answer 5

this depends on how light is being refracted within the solid form
of water.