Question

Why do clouds seem white although they are hit by yelowish light from the sun.

From what I understand light from the sun is fairly white , but loose some of its blue component while traveling through the air contained in our atmosphere (hence the sky is blue).

If that is so, then the yellowish light should be scattered in all direction while traveling through the droplets of the clouds and the resulting effect should be yellowish, the same color as we see the sun.

How did the blue color get back into the spectrum of the color coming out of the cloulds to make them look white ?

Answer 1

Light from the sun is white, the sun would be white if you could see it from outside the atmosphere.

The sky appears blue because blue light scatters more than other colours in the atmosphere, so the blue light reaches earth, while the other colours do not.

When you look at the sun, it appears yellow because you're looking at rays of light coming directly at you, and the blue light is mostly scattered away, while the other colours continue on towards you, leaving the yellowish colour.

Clouds are white because water droplets are big enough to scatter all colours down towards earth, making them white. They scatter the blue light down to earth, along with all the other colours.