Today in Chemistry I found out that steam is colorless, this is noticable when you boil a kettle and where the steam is coming out you can see its colorless but further up you can see a whitish cloud. What is the whitish cloud, why is steam colorless and the cloud white? what is it?
2007-09-17 09:08:04 · 4 answers · asked by Kaz Wilkosz 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Steam is just water vapor, moisture rising from the kettle which is hot and concentrated without much air in it. As it mixes with the cooler air, it begins to go back to liquid, in the form of microscopic droplets. These droplets float in the air and are basically the same as clouds in the sky, so it looks like a wisp of cloud, or like when you can see your breath on a cold day. (If you catch the steam on a cold surface, the drops will join together and you can see the water again.) The wisp soon evaporates, making the air more humid.
The wisp, and white clouds, are white because the droplets are so small that light is totally scattered. Whenever the light is totally scattered the color is white.
Pure air and pure water will appear blue, as in blue sky and blue lakes. But just a little air or a little water (or the steam without droplets) will appear clear.
2007-09-17 09:27:37 · answer #1 · answered by Polly 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Steam is colourless because the molecules are completely separated. What you can see by the kettle is white condensed water vapour - a cloud. The droplets reflect light.
2007-09-17 09:13:57 · answer #2 · answered by Gervald F 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
it is a colourless gas,, but in contact with air it seems like cloud bcoz it attracts moisture content in air
2014-09-27 22:55:54 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Steam is transparent. Sorry Kenny B.
Condensation is what you see, and is not steam.
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2007-09-17 09:23:49 · answer #4 · answered by muddypuppyuk 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋