Color of water

Color of water
For the book by James McBride, see The Color of Water.
While relatively small quantities of water appear to be colorless, water's tint
becomes a deeper blue as the thickness of the observed sample increases. The
blue hue of water is an intrinsic property and is caused by selective absorption
and scattering of white light. Impurities dissolved or suspended in water may
give water different colored appearances.

Intrinsic color
For more details on this topic, see Electromagnetic absorption by water.
When water is in small quantities
(e.g. in a glass) it appears colorless to
the human eye

The intrinsic color of liquid water may be demonstrated by looking at a

white light source through a long pipe that is filled with purified water
and closed at both ends with a transparent window. The light turquoise
blue color is caused by weak absorption in the red part of the visible
spectrum.[1]
For most substances, absorptions in the visible spectrum are usually
attributed to excitations of electronic energy states. However, water is
a simple 3-atom molecule, H2O, and all its electronic absorptions occur
in the ultraviolet region of the electromagnetic spectrum and are
therefore not responsible for the color of water in the visible region of
the spectrum.Wikipedia:Citation needed

An indoor swimming pool appears blue from

above, as light reflecting from the bottom of the
pool travels through enough water that its red
component is absorbed. The same water in a
smaller bucket looks only slightly blue

The water molecule has three fundamental modes of vibration,

including two stretching vibrations of the O-H bonds which occur at v1
= 3650cm1 and v3 = 3755cm1. Absorption due to these vibrations occurs in the infrared region of the spectrum.
The absorption in the visible spectrum is due mainly to the harmonic v1 + 3v3 = 14,318cm1, which is equivalent to
a wavelength of 698nm.[1]
Absorption intensity decreases markedly with each successive overtone, resulting in very weak absorption for the
third overtone. For this reason, the pipe needs to have a length of a meter or more and the water must be purified by
microfiltration to remove any particles that could produce Rayleigh scattering.Wikipedia:Citation needed

Color of water

Color of lakes and oceans

Lakes and oceans appear blue for several reasons. One is that the
surface of the water reflects the color of the sky. While this reflection
contributes to the observed color, it is not the sole reason.[2]
Some constituents of sea water can influence the shade of blue of the
ocean. This is why it can look greener or bluer in different areas. Water
in swimming pools (which may also contain various chemicals) with
white-painted sides and bottom will appear as a turquoise blue.
Clean water appears blue in white-tiled swimming pools as well as in
indoor pools where there is no blue sky to be reflected. The deeper the
Large bodies of water such as oceans manifest
water's inherent slightly blue color.
pool, the bluer the water. Scattering from suspended particles also
plays an important role in the color of lakes and oceans. A few tens of
meters of water will absorb all light, so without scattering, all bodies of water would appear black. Because most
lakes and oceans contain suspended living matter and mineral particles, known as colored dissolved organic matter
(CDOM) light from above is reflected upwards. Scattering from suspended particles would normally give a white
color, as with snow, but because the light first passes through many meters of blue-colored liquid, the scattered light
appears blue. In extremely pure wateras is found in mountain lakes, where scattering from white-colored particles
is missingthe scattering from water molecules themselves also contributes a blue color.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Another phenomenon that occurs is Rayleigh scattering in the
atmosphere along one's line of sight: the horizon is typically 45km
distant and the air (being just above sea level in the case of the ocean)
is at its densest. This mechanism would add a blue tinge to any distant
object (not just the sea) because blue light would be scattered into one's
line of sight.Wikipedia:Citation needed

The hue of the reflected sky also contributes to

the perceived color of water.

The surfaces of seas and lakes often reflect blue skylight, making them
appear bluer. The relative contribution of reflected skylight and the
light scattered back from the depths is strongly dependent on
observation angle.[3]

Color of water

Color of glaciers
Main article: Blue ice (glacial)
Glaciers are large bodies of ice and snow formed during very cold climates by processes involving the compaction of
fallen snow. While snowy glaciers appear white from a distance, up close and when shielded from direct ambient
light, glaciers usually appear a deep blue due to the long path lengths of the internal reflected
light.Wikipedia:Citation needed

Color of water samples

Dissolved and particulate material in water can cause discoloration.
Slight discoloration is measured in Hazen units (HU).[4] Impurities can
be deeply colored as well, for instance dissolved organic compounds
called tannins can result in dark brown colors, or algae floating in the
water (particles) can impart a green color.
The color of a water sample can be reported as:
Apparent color is the color of the whole water sample, and consists
of color from both dissolved and suspended components.
True color is measured after filtering the water sample to remove all
suspended material.
Testing for color can be a quick and easy test which often reflects the
amount of organic material in the water, although certain inorganic
components like iron or manganese can also impart
color.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Water color can reveal physical, chemical and bacteriological
conditions. In drinking water, green can indicate copper leaching from
High concentrations of dissolved lime give the
copper plumbing and can also represent algae growth. Blue can also
water of Havasu Falls a turquoise color.
indicate copper, or might be caused by syphoning of industrial cleaners
in the tank of commodes, commonly known as backflowing. Reds can be signs of rust from iron pipes or airborne
bacteria from lakes, etc. Black water can indicate growth of sulfur-reducing bacteria inside a hot water tank set at
less than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. This usually has a strong sulfur or rotten egg (H2S) odor and is easily corrected by
draining the water heater and increasing the temperature to 120 or higher. The odor will always be in the hot water
pipes if sulfate reducing bacteria are the cause and never in the cold water plumbing. The color spectrum with water
indicatorsWikipedia:Please clarify is wide and, if learned, can make solving cosmetic, bacteriological and chemical
problems easier to identify.Wikipedia:Citation needed

Color of water

Water quality and color

The presence of color in water does not necessarily indicate that the
water is not drinkable. Color-causing substances such as tannins may
be harmless.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Color is not removed by typical water filters; however, slow sand
filters can remove color, and the use of coagulants may also succeed in
trapping the color-causing compounds within the resulting
precipitate.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Glacial rock flour makes New Zealand's Lake
Pukaki a lighter turquoise than its neighbors.

Other factors can affect the color we see:

Particles and solutes can absorb light, as in tea or coffee. Green

algae in rivers and streams often lend a blue-green color. The Red
Sea has occasional blooms of red Trichodesmium erythraeum algae.Wikipedia:Citation needed
Particles in water can scatter light. The Colorado River is often muddy red because of suspended reddish silt in
the water. Some mountain lakes and streams with finely ground rock, such as glacial flour, are turquoise. Light
scattering by suspended matter is required in order that the blue light produced by water's absorption can return to
the surface and be observed. Such scattering can also shift the spectrum of the emerging photons toward the
green, a color often seen when water laden with suspended particles is observed.Wikipedia:Citation needed

Color names
Various cultures divide the semantic field of colors differently from the
English language usage and some do not distinguish between blue and
green in the same way. An example is Welsh where glas can mean
blue or green.
Other color names assigned to bodies of water are sea green and
ultramarine blue. Unusual oceanic colorings have given rise to the
terms red tide and black tide.
The Ancient Greek poet Homer uses the epithet "wine-dark sea"; in
Red tide off the California coast.
addition, he also describes the sea as "grey". Some have suggested that
this is due to the Ancient Greeks classifying colors primarily by
luminosity rather than hue, while others believe Homer was color-blind.Wikipedia:Citation needed

References
[1] Braun & Smirnov 1993, p.612.
[2] ":"...any simple answer is bound to mislead. It turns out that contributions to the observed color are made both by reflected skylight and by
the intrinsic absorption...""
[3] "...the relative contribution of reflected skylight and the light scattered back from the depths is strongly dependent on observation angle."
Charles L. Braun and Sergei N. Smirnov WHY IS WATER BLUE? J. Chem. Edu., 1993, 70(8), 612 added some sugar too http:/ / www.
dartmouth. edu/ ~etrnsfer/ water. htm
[4] International Organization for Standardization, ISO 2211:1973, Measurement of colour in Hazen units (platinum-cobalt scale) of Liquid
Chemical Products

Braun, Charles L.; Smirnov, Sergei N. (1993), "Why is water blue?" (http://inside.mines.edu/fs_home/dwu/
classes/CH353/study/Why is Water Blue.pdf), Journal of Chemical Education 70 (8): 612614, Bibcode:
1993JChEd..70..612B (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993JChEd..70..612B), doi: 10.1021/ed070p612
(http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed070p612)

Color of water

Further reading
Dickey, Tommy D.; Kattawar, George W.; Voss, Kenneth J. (April 2011), "Shedding new light on light in the
ocean" (http://www.nserc.und.edu/learning/Dickeyetal2011.pdf), Physics Today 64 (4): 4449, Bibcode:
2011PhT....64d..44D (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011PhT....64d..44D), doi: 10.1063/1.3580492 (http:/
/dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3580492)
Pettit, Edison (February 1936), "On the Color of Crater Lake Water", Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America 22 (2): 139146, Bibcode: 1936PNAS...22..139P (http://adsabs.
harvard.edu/abs/1936PNAS...22..139P), doi: 10.1073/pnas.22.2.139 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.22.
2.139), PMC 1076722 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1076722), PMID 16588059 (http:/
/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16588059)

External links
What color is water? (http://webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/5B.html)
Why is Water Blue? (http://www.dartmouth.edu/~etrnsfer/water.htm)
Is water blue? The absorption spectrum of water in the visible range (http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/vibrat.
html#blue)
Why is the snow blue? (http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon971003/skinnyon.html#blue)
The Color of the Ocean (http://nasascience.nasa.gov/earth-science/oceanography/living-ocean/ocean-color)
from science@nasa
Why is it blue? (http://www.whyiswaterblue.com)
Is water clear? (http://www.whyzz.com/why-is-water-clear)

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File:Strawberry splash.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Strawberry_splash.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Contributors: Abhijit Tembhekar
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