Why Are Storm Clouds Dark?
It has been raining heavily for the last several days, and the clouds have cast a dull gray over my entire town. But why are these storm clouds the same color as charcoal while other clouds are milky white?
The Sun emits radiation at the speed of light. We can only see a small portion of the radiated energy, which our eyes perceive as color.
White clouds are made of condensed water droplets. The water droplets scatter the entire spectrum of energy waves that are visible to us. These scattered waves have equal proportion of basic colors (red, green and blue) and our eyes interpret them as white.
Storm clouds are denser than white clouds since they gather more water droplets and ice crystals. The thicker the cloud, the lesser that light that penetrates all the way through it. The particles at the bottom of the cloud do not have much light to scatter and hence appear gray. However, if you see the same cloud from above, you will see it as white.
The Sun emits radiation at the speed of light. We can only see a small portion of the radiated energy, which our eyes perceive as color.
White clouds are made of condensed water droplets. The water droplets scatter the entire spectrum of energy waves that are visible to us. These scattered waves have equal proportion of basic colors (red, green and blue) and our eyes interpret them as white.
Storm clouds are denser than white clouds since they gather more water droplets and ice crystals. The thicker the cloud, the lesser that light that penetrates all the way through it. The particles at the bottom of the cloud do not have much light to scatter and hence appear gray. However, if you see the same cloud from above, you will see it as white.
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