Great question Rafi! Snow is actually translucent, not white or transparent. This means light doesn't travel straight through but instead bounces around inside the snow. Our eyes see snow as white because of the reflection of all colors. White light is made of all colors!

First, light hits a clump of snow. Second, all the ice atoms bounce around all colors of light. Finally all colors of light leave the snow, when it is seen by our eyes. What's cool to know is that the color of an object is the light the object doesn't absorb. For example most plant leaves are green, because green light is reflected. Other colors of light are absorbed and grow the plant. Scientists know generally green light is the least effective light for growing plants!

Snow is made up of many individual ice crystals, which we typically call snowflakes. If one were to look at a single snowflake with light shining from directly above, it would seem transparent and the only color would come from the background behind the snowflake as the light travels through without changing direction. In other words, without reflecting at the snowflake surface. However, whether reflection occurs depends on the angle between the direction the light is traveling and the surface. This is called the Law of Reflection and means that the transparent snowflake can appear to be the color of the light if the angle between the light and the snowflake is just right (more information in this question on ScienceLine ).

With a large pile of snow, there are many snowflakes at many different angles relative to the light shining on them. Because there are so many, there will be some which are properly oriented to reflect light even though others are not and have light pass straight through. Since the incoming light is white (assuming sunlight, which is white because it contains all visible light wavelengths roughly equally), the reflected light that ultimately reaches the observer is also white and hence, snow looks white in color.

Cool - when you mix all colors of light, you get white. When you mix all colors of paint, you get something dark like black.

There's a scientific reason that snow is white. Light is scattered and bounces off the ice crystals in the snow. The reflected light includes all the colors, which, together, look white. ... And all the colors of light add up to white.

I snow white?