water molecules and ice molecules align themselves in a very orderly way. there are not many breaks between them. light then goes through very easily, it is not frequently reflected at the irregularities inside the water and ice.The molecular alignment in the ice and water is fairly smooth and regular.
snow is made of crystals like ice and somewhat like water where the molecules are also held in order,
but there are many breaks between the snow crystals. At each break there is a tiny surface and the light is reflected and scattered by each surface making it appear white.
no image is seen with such a scatter. an image can be seen through water and ice because the light travels relatively undisturbed and in paralell lines and can carry the patterns of the objects behind the ice and water.
2007-06-18 16:06:58
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answer #1
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answered by fred 2
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Some light is refracted (slowed down and 'bent') when it passes through ice, and some is reflected off the surface.
If you have a large block of ice, the light only enters and exits the ice once, so it doesn't change direction much. However, with snow, light hits the ice many times at various angles, reflecting and refracting all over. The light that eventually reaches your eye came from many reflections, so you do not make out clear images. Instead, you see only the total of all the colors of light added together, which makes white light.
2007-06-18 13:01:26
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answer #2
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answered by lithiumdeuteride 7
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Because light bounces off snow in all directions.
You can see through glass because light passes through it. If glass is shatered into tiny pieces, they'll look white because light is reflected off them in all diretions.
Salt is also made up of clear crystals, square ones. When a great number are put together, they appear white just like snow.
2007-06-19 02:48:50
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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Water isn't frozen yet does replace into frozen and then comes down as snow. Water gets into the ambience and into the clouds and then freezes and springs down with the aid of fact the eye-catching white stuff. Water in a river ought to be clean yet can replace into contaminated with waste dumped into it. So it could no longer continually proceed to be clean. however the white stuff is water frozen in little drops that replace into snow because it falls down.
2016-12-13 06:47:19
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answer #4
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answered by kreitman 4
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it's more accurate to say that it reflects all wavelengths of light. the color of something is determined by which wavelengths are absorbed or reflected. snow reflects all, makig it 'white'. it reflects because it has so many flat surface in it's crystal structure. Ice has a homogeneous structure so only the surface reflects, and any air bubles that are trappedd inside. so 'airy' ice has bubbles and appears more white
2007-06-18 13:01:08
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answer #5
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answered by Piglet O 6
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Snow is white for the same reason a bowl of sugar is white or a polar bear's fur is white or clouds are white. All are composed of small transparent particles that scatter the white light falling on them. Yoy see all the frequencies that make up white light so you see it as white.
2007-06-18 19:37:54
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answer #6
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answered by tentofield 7
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snow is a lot of mini ice and they reflect the light so that is why it is white
2007-06-18 14:57:17
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answer #7
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answered by v 2
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Because it is water in a different form.
Gas - Vapor, which is foggy
Liquid - or Water, which is clear
Solid - Ice, which is white (small individual crystallines melded together)
2007-06-18 12:57:57
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answer #8
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answered by kNOTaLIAwyR 7
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because snow is made of crystals that reflect light in different directions
2007-06-18 14:02:51
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answer #9
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answered by W R 2
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Different crystalline structure.
2007-06-18 12:59:45
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answer #10
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answered by Anonymous
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