• Question: What colour is water ?????

    Asked by Amy collins to Amy Heather, Philip, Maxime, Jake, Annette, Ann on 11 Nov 2019. This question was also asked by cake46pie, Giannes, HufflepuffQueen8223.
    • Photo: Amy Heather Fitzpatrick

      Amy Heather Fitzpatrick answered on 11 Nov 2019:


      So water can be many colours, it depends on the type of water you are looking at such as tap water, water in the ocean or water by a glacier. Our eyes can actually only perceive three difference colours. This was discovered by a scientist called Thomas Young, over 100 years ago! So our eyes see in blue-violet, green or red and these three colour zones in our eyes overlap. So when we look at the colour of water, it changes in our eyes and then in our brain, depending on what is beside that water .. or sometimes what is inside the water. When light or UV wavelengths hits the water, the rays are takn up by hydrogen and oxygen moleculars. Water is H2O right? So two hydrogens and one oxygen. After the UV rays hit the water they emit out the energy as wavelengths. The green and red wavelengths are shorter than the blue wavelengths so we see the blue wavelengths! Lakes and oceans also look blue as they reflect the colour of the sky, If the water has lots of calcium or certain soils the colour can look more greenish/blue.

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