Why is gold's color different from other metals?

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  • Thread starter dishku
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dishku
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Gold being a very good conductor should reflect almost all light incident on it and should be appearing white or at least gray. then why is it golden...?
pls do reply a detailed answer
 

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It has to do with relativistic corrections. Since gold is such a large atom, its electrons are moving very fast (effectively).
 
Specifically a transition to the p-orbital/band which is in the ultraviolet in Ag is shifted down into the blue in gold, giving it absorption in the blue range, hence a yellowish color, since that's the complementary color to blue.