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Re: The blueness of water



I base my claim that water is a blue liquid on the following references
(besides the ones previously discussed):

"Light and Photosynthesis in Aquatic Systems" by John O. Kirk, 2nd edition.

"Handbook of Optical Constants" volume II edited by Edward Palik, pp.
1059-1077

"Handbook of Optics I" chapter 43, Optical Properties of Water.

and a few thousand references contained in these articles.

Water is intrinsically blue with scattering by particulates and coloring due
to colored matter and minerals making contributions. It's a complex subject
but the basic idea is that water is intrinsically blue - it is a weak and
selective absorber of visible light.

Larry Woolf; General Atomics; 3550 General Atomics Court, San Diego, CA
92121; Phone:858-526-8575; FAX:858-526-8568; http://www.sci-ed-ga.org

-----Original Message-----
From: John S. Denker
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 7:51 AM
Subject: Re: The blueness of water


Most people have never seen a large sample of really pure water.
I still claim that pure water is not nearly as blue as most
people think, and not blue enough to explain the blueness of
mountain lakes.

I support my claim with observations of the ultra-pure water
in neutrino detectors, such as
http://www.nobel.se/physics/educational/poster/1995/underground.jpg
http://www.mindspring.com/~divegeek/erie.htm

Yes, there is a bluish cast to those pictures, but the far-away
objects are not noticeably bluer than the foreground objects.
Also note the extremely clear and sharp view of the distant
objects.