Colors of Snow
Goal
Students learn that snow can be various shades but is usually light in color, which reflects most of the sunlight that hits it, unlike darker materials.
Engage the color of snow by looking at what colors artists have used to paint snow.
- Is Snow White? Maybe, or Maybe Not includes an online gallery of landscape art that includes snow and shows what colors the artists used to paint the snow.
Explore students with an investigation about how different colors absorb heat.
- Reflect on Light and Color: Take a look at how the color of materials that cover the Earth like snow, soil, and water affect the amounts of sunlight they reflect and absorb.
- Do Different Colors Absorb Heat Differently: In this activity, from Teach Engineering, students learn that darker colors absorb more heat than lighter colors.
Evaluate student learning by having students predict what would happen if light snow was covered by something dark.
- Ask students to predict what would happen in places where there is soot or dirt on top of snow and ice. Student responses should include that the darker color of soot or dirt on top of ice would absorb heat. It would warm up faster than light colored snow and ice.