
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Have you ever wondered why waterfalls appear white when still water is transparent? Why clouds, or snow, appear white when they too are essentially just water molecules in different states? What makes something white, opaque or transparent? These are the questions CrowdScience listener Gerardo has been pondering ever since taking in the beauty of fallen water on a hiking trail in his home of Cantabria, Northern Spain. Presenter Marnie Chesterton, sets off on a quest to find out the answers to all of those questions and more. What even is white? Is it a colour, the absence of colour or all the colours of the rainbow combined? Is black really the opposite of white? And what colours do we mix to make white or black paint?
Image: White paint in pots and a paintbrush. Credit: Getty Images
By BBC World Service4.7
434434 ratings
Have you ever wondered why waterfalls appear white when still water is transparent? Why clouds, or snow, appear white when they too are essentially just water molecules in different states? What makes something white, opaque or transparent? These are the questions CrowdScience listener Gerardo has been pondering ever since taking in the beauty of fallen water on a hiking trail in his home of Cantabria, Northern Spain. Presenter Marnie Chesterton, sets off on a quest to find out the answers to all of those questions and more. What even is white? Is it a colour, the absence of colour or all the colours of the rainbow combined? Is black really the opposite of white? And what colours do we mix to make white or black paint?
Image: White paint in pots and a paintbrush. Credit: Getty Images

7,747 Listeners

892 Listeners

1,066 Listeners

5,475 Listeners

1,816 Listeners

1,782 Listeners

1,041 Listeners

2,079 Listeners

607 Listeners

89 Listeners

344 Listeners

976 Listeners

405 Listeners

427 Listeners

823 Listeners

736 Listeners

232 Listeners

333 Listeners

358 Listeners

244 Listeners

3,220 Listeners

744 Listeners

114 Listeners

1,041 Listeners