Question: Hey Diana, why is ice clear and snow white??

Diana Samuel answered on 17 Jun 2011:

Great question. From what I understand, ice is generally clear because its just frozen water; any differences in colour will be due to impurties in the water or the presence of trapped air. Snow is basically clumped ice crystals. These little ‘fragments’ and air pcokets reflect light almost entirely (i.e. no particular wavelength of light [e.g. green] is absorbed or reflected), so the white light that hits it is reflected back off of it, so it appears white.