NASA’s ice drone took this pic with the explanation that very old, dense ice is incredibly blue when the side of icebergs erode away (ref: @NASA_ICE on twitter). Some of the comments say it is ordinary white ice under the water and the absorption of red light makes it look blue, while others say the ice really is blue. Why is the ice blue? (Apart from Walter White using blue stuff to make it…)

Divine Angel said:

NASA’s ice drone took this pic with the explanation that very old, dense ice is incredibly blue when the side of icebergs erode away (ref: @NASA_ICE on twitter). Some of the comments say it is ordinary white ice under the water and the absorption of red light makes it look blue, while others say the ice really is blue. Why is the ice blue? (Apart from Walter White using blue stuff to make it…)

maybe for the same reason the sky appears blue? scattering.

Blue ice occurs when snow falls on a glacier, is compressed, and becomes part of the glacier. Air bubbles are squeezed out and ice crystals enlarge, making the ice appear blue.

ChrispenEvan said:

Divine Angel said:

NASA’s ice drone took this pic with the explanation that very old, dense ice is incredibly blue when the side of icebergs erode away (ref: @NASA_ICE on twitter). Some of the comments say it is ordinary white ice under the water and the absorption of red light makes it look blue, while others say the ice really is blue. Why is the ice blue? (Apart from Walter White using blue stuff to make it…)

maybe for the same reason the sky appears blue? scattering.

Here’s a man whose brain does not appear blue.

Blue ice occurs when snow falls on a glacier, is compressed, and becomes part of the glacier. Air bubbles are squeezed out and ice crystals enlarge, making the ice appear blue.

Small amounts of regular ice appear to be white because of air bubbles inside them and also because small quantities of water appear to be colourless. In glaciers, the pressure causes the air bubbles to be squeezed out, increasing the density of the created ice. Large quantities of water appear to be blue, as it absorbs other colours more efficiently than blue. Therefore, a large piece of compressed ice, or a glacier, would appear blue.

The blue color is sometimes wrongly attributed to Rayleigh scattering, which is responsible for the color of the sky. Rather, water ice is blue for the same reason that large quantities of liquid water are blue: it is a result of an overtone of an oxygen–hydrogen (O−H) bond stretch in water, which absorbs light at the red end of the visible spectrum. In the case of oceans or lakes, some of the light hitting the surface of water is reflected back directly, but most of it penetrates the surface, interacting with its molecules. The water molecule can vibrate in different modes when light hits it. The red, orange, yellow, and green wavelengths of light are absorbed so that the remaining light is composed of the shorter wavelengths of blue and violet. This is the main reason why the ocean is blue. So, water owes its intrinsic blueness to selective absorption in the red part of its visible spectrum. The absorbed photons promote transitions to high overtone and combination states of the nuclear motions of the molecule, i.e. to highly excited vibrations.

ChrispenEvan said:

Divine Angel said:

NASA’s ice drone took this pic with the explanation that very old, dense ice is incredibly blue when the side of icebergs erode away (ref: @NASA_ICE on twitter). Some of the comments say it is ordinary white ice under the water and the absorption of red light makes it look blue, while others say the ice really is blue. Why is the ice blue? (Apart from Walter White using blue stuff to make it…)

maybe for the same reason the sky appears blue? scattering.

Rayleigh?

sibeen said:

ChrispenEvan said:

Divine Angel said:

NASA’s ice drone took this pic with the explanation that very old, dense ice is incredibly blue when the side of icebergs erode away (ref: @NASA_ICE on twitter). Some of the comments say it is ordinary white ice under the water and the absorption of red light makes it look blue, while others say the ice really is blue. Why is the ice blue? (Apart from Walter White using blue stuff to make it…)

maybe for the same reason the sky appears blue? scattering.

Rayleigh?

yes, but that is incorrect.

Cymek said:

Blue ice occurs when snow falls on a glacier, is compressed, and becomes part of the glacier. Air bubbles are squeezed out and ice crystals enlarge, making the ice appear blue.

This one.

ChrispenEvan said:

Rayleigh?

yes, but that is incorrect.

Really?

:)

Ok so it’s ice that’s had the bubbles squished out. What colour is blue ice in the dark?

sibeen said:

ChrispenEvan said:

Rayleigh?

yes, but that is incorrect.

Really?

:)

yes. it is for the same reason water at depth appears blue.

Divine Angel said:

Ok so it’s ice that’s had the bubbles squished out. What colour is blue ice in the dark?

ChrispenEvan said:

sibeen said:

ChrispenEvan said:

Rayleigh?

yes, but that is incorrect.

Really?

:)

yes. it is for the same reason water at depth appears blue.

Damn, and here I was trying for a joke.

sibeen said:

ChrispenEvan said:

sibeen said:

Really?

:)

yes. it is for the same reason water at depth appears blue.

Damn, and here I was trying for a joke.

oh, really, rayleigh. good one. went right over my head.

sibeen said:

ChrispenEvan said:

sibeen said:

Really?

:)

yes. it is for the same reason water at depth appears blue.

Damn, and here I was trying for a joke.

He acknowledged the joke.

ChrispenEvan said:

sibeen said:

ChrispenEvan said:

yes. it is for the same reason water at depth appears blue.

Damn, and here I was trying for a joke.

oh, really, rayleigh. good one. went right over my head.

To be expected, I suppose.

ChrispenEvan said:

sibeen said:

ChrispenEvan said:

yes. it is for the same reason water at depth appears blue.

Damn, and here I was trying for a joke.

oh, really, rayleigh. good one. went right over my head.

Pfft even I got that one. It just wasnt funny 😜

Divine Angel said:

ChrispenEvan said:

sibeen said:

Damn, and here I was trying for a joke.

oh, really, rayleigh. good one. went right over my head.

Pfft even I got that one. It just wasnt funny 😜

sibeen said:

ChrispenEvan said:

sibeen said:

oh, really, rayleigh. good one. went right over my head.

To be expected, I suppose.

ooooooh!

But here’s a coincidence.

Immediately after reading that I read about Buckingham’s pi theorem, which is really a formalisation of Rayleigh’s method of dimensional analysis.

What are the chances of that?

Divine Angel said:

ChrispenEvan said:

sibeen said:

Damn, and here I was trying for a joke.

oh, really, rayleigh. good one. went right over my head.

Pfft even I got that one. It just wasnt funny 😜

HOW. DARE. YOU!

sibeen said:

Divine Angel said:

ChrispenEvan said:

oh, really, rayleigh. good one. went right over my head.

Pfft even I got that one. It just wasnt funny 😜

HOW. DARE. YOU!

hey, get used to it. sometimes people just don’t find one’s zingers funny. i know.

ChrispenEvan said:

sibeen said:

Divine Angel said:

Pfft even I got that one. It just wasnt funny 😜

HOW. DARE. YOU!

hey, get used to it. sometimes people just don’t find one’s zingers funny. i know.

You should be well inured.

Cymek said:

The blue color is sometimes wrongly attributed to Rayleigh scattering, which is responsible for the color of the sky. Rather, water ice is blue for the same reason that large quantities of liquid water are blue: it is a result of an overtone of an oxygen–hydrogen (O−H) bond stretch in water, which absorbs light at the red end of the visible spectrum. In the case of oceans or lakes, some of the light hitting the surface of water is reflected back directly, but most of it penetrates the surface, interacting with its molecules. The water molecule can vibrate in different modes when light hits it. The red, orange, yellow, and green wavelengths of light are absorbed so that the remaining light is composed of the shorter wavelengths of blue and violet. This is the main reason why the ocean is blue. So, water owes its intrinsic blueness to selective absorption in the red part of its visible spectrum. The absorbed photons promote transitions to high overtone and combination states of the nuclear motions of the molecule, i.e. to highly excited vibrations.

Yep. Trust Cymek on this one.

or wiki.