Problems with Light

[Kamakal]

Hello:

Not really a question for this forum.
My problem is that I bought a book for my daughter (12 years old). I want her to be an engineer. God save her.
The question in the book was "Why is snow white?". My answer is "because of ice crystals, and refraction, whatever be the input light, due to blending of millions of multifaceted crystals, the output is white".
The book says "ice crystals, millions of them, because of REFLECTION".
Can somebody tell me, is it REFLECTION or REFRACTION.
I want my daughter also to join this forum one day.
Thanks.
Raj

 

[MikeHalloran]

One answer to your question:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question524.htm

I.e, reflection.

Do you seriously think you can influence your daughter's decisions? Wait a year and get back to us on that. In the meantime, please, just pray for her to be healthy and happy.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[BigInch]

Reflection from Refracted rays.

"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."

I believe, "changes its direction slightly" means refraction.

The only visible result is(are) the color(s) that has been reflected from a brick, snow, or diamond, back to the human eye, which is not to say that there was no refraction involved.

BigInch-born in the trenches.

http://virtualpipeline.spaces.msn.com

 

[Compositepro]

Clear particles look white due to scattering of light, which is caused by both refraction and reflection.