Why Did a Cumulus Cloud Change Colors When Viewed Through Polarized Sunglasses?

  • Level: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter questionpost
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Random Weird
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
1 reply · 3K views
questionpost
Messages
194
Reaction score
0
One day I just put on my polarized sunglasses, and on the road, I looked at cumulonimbus cloud probably in the congestus stage in a system with many other cumulus clouds (those big puffy clouds), and a single giant cumulus cloud appeared yellow-ish when wearing the polarized sunglass, and I took them off for a second to see if it would make a difference, all of the sudden the cloud was no longer yellow and it was just plain white, and it was only that single cloud. I put my glasses back on and off, and the cloud kept switching between white and yellow.
Any explanation for why a single random cumulus cloud would change color with polarized sunglasses?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
I'd guess that the different wavelengths of light were being scattered and polarized differently in that particular cloud at the time.