Why do clouds look white?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Water droplets scatter all light
Water droplets scatter all light ✓ — Correct! Cloud droplets are big enough to scatter all colors of light equally (Mie scattering). When all colors mix, you see white. The sky is blue because tiny air molecules scatter blue light more (Rayleigh scattering). Storm clouds look dark because they're so thick that little light gets through. At sunset, clouds turn red/orange because blue light was already scattered away earlier in the sun's path!
Clouds contain white chemicals — Wrong. Clouds are water droplets/ice crystals, not chemicals. Water scatters all wavelengths of light equally, creating white appearance.
Oxygen makes clouds appear white — Wrong. Oxygen is colorless. Cloud whiteness from large water droplets scattering all colors of light equally (Mie scattering).
More Weather & Climate questions
- Why can a small shift toward larger hail raise damage so much?
- Why model hailstone trajectories, not just thunderstorm counts?
- Why do tropical hailstorms produce smaller hail than mid-latitude ones?
- Hail has clear and cloudy bands. Why not just 'up-down elevator rides'?
- Why is the coldest storm top not the best place for hail to grow?
- Why do supercells make 5-cm hail when ordinary storms usually cannot?
