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Atomic and Condensed Matter
Relativistic Effects for Copper and Gold
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[QUOTE="jeanpinto844, post: 6194566, member: 663404"] [B]TL;DR Summary:[/B] Relativistic effects on the quantum states of electrons in Copper and Gold [B]Summary:[/B] Relativistic effects on the quantum states of electrons in Copper and Gold Hello. I am a new member. I have read that the explanation for the colors of copper(red) and gold(yellow) compared to other metals being silver or grey in color is due to relativistic effects on the valence electrons in those metals. Is this explanation enough? Silver is within the same group as Cu and Au but silver has no characteristic color. How are copper and gold affected by relativity and not silver? I have also read that mercury is a liquid also due to relativistic effects. How is Hg affected but not Zinc or Cadmium? One would perhaps expect the metals on the lower half of the periodic table such as Pb or Bi to also be affected by relativity and have certain characteristics that their neighbors do not. Are relativistic effects just a simple answer/explanation to what is a much more complicated answer? From a chemist's perspective, the electronic configurations for Cu Ag and Au are 4s1 3d10, 5s2 4d10, and 6s2 4f14 5d10, respectively so one would infer that relativistic effects should take place for all three metals considering they have the exact same configurations. The same can be said for Zn, Cd, and Hg which all end in the same configurations. [/QUOTE]
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Relativistic Effects for Copper and Gold
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