To answer this question there are two things which need to be considered – colour theory and refraction. Refraction is the change in direction of light as it goes from one material to another. It is due to a slight change in speed of the light and it explains why straws look bent in water. When light enters snow, it refracts. This is because snow is made from lots of ice crystals tightly packed together, the important fact here being that these crystals are translucent (light ...

Man captures rare close-up footage of an iceberg collapsing Capturing an iceberg collapsing or calving is a rare sight, and this couple filming off Labrador, Canada, picked up their camcorder just in time to catch the dramatic event. The pair and their dog are clearly excited about what they've just witnessed, but are soon chased away by a rush of smashed up ice that starts floating towards them. For ...

Amazing NASA images of the British Isles blanketed in snow Image courtesy of NASA The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (or MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite captured this incredibly chilling image of Great Britain on 7 January as most areas experienced freezing temperatures of -10C on the coldest night of the winter so far. Isolated areas were even subjected to lows of -22C in the Scottish Highlands. Snowfall followed by freezing temperatures left areas dangerously icy, resulting in widespread chaos ...

This home-made video of a skier caught in a sudden avalanche is a stark reminder of the threat posed by this natural phenomenon. What would you do if caught in a freak snow slide?