January 16, 2025

Gold Looks The Way It Does Because Of A Relativistic Effect – IFLScience

CLOSEWe have emailed you a PDF version of the article you requested.Please check your spam or junk folder You can also addnewsletters@iflscience.comto your safe senders list to ensure you never miss a message from us.CLOSEComplete the form below and we will email you a PDF versionGET PDFCancel and go backIFLScience needs the contact information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time.For information on how to unsubscribe, as well as our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy, check out ourPrivacy PolicyCLOSEComplete the form below to listen to the audio version of this articleListenCancel and go backIFLScience needs the contact information you provide to us to contact you about our products and services. You may unsubscribe from these communications at any time.For information on how to unsubscribe, as well as our privacy practices and commitment to protecting your privacy, check out ourPrivacy PolicyAdvertisementSearchSubscribe today for our Weekly Newsletter in your inbox!Subscribe today for our Weekly Newsletter in your inbox!James FeltonJames FeltonSenior Staff WriterJames is a published author with four pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.BookView full profileBookRead IFLScience Editorial PolicySenior Staff WriterMaddy ChapmanEditor & WriterMaddy is an editor and writer at IFLScience, with a degree in biochemistry from the University of York.BookView full profileBookRead IFLScience Editorial PolicyDOWNLOAD PDF VERSIONGold, with its distinctive golden shine.Image credit: Pixfiction/Shutterstock.comDOWNLOAD PDF VERSIONGold, while deemed valuable by humans, isn’t that exciting as an element, being fairly unreactive with most of the other elements available to play around with.Humans love the rare metal anyway, partly due to its rarity and unreactive nature making it an ideal element to use as currency, and its unique shiny color making it attractive when fashioned into jewelry. But what gives it that unique shine, we magpies humans love so much? It turns out that in order to answer that question, you need a little of quantum mechanics and a sprinkling of Einstein’s relativity.   Relativistic effects are also present in mercury.With a heavy nucleus (79 protons) and a lone electron in its outermost electron shell, gold should have fairly similar properties to silver, with its 47 protons and electrons, and a lone electron in the outermost or “valence” shell. Yet silver (Ag) is more reactive than gold, and for reasons that took a long while to figure out.”The chemical difference between silver and gold has received a great deal of attention during the history of chemistry,” a 1978 paper on the topic explained. “It seems to be mainly a relativistic effect.”Due to the large number of positively charged protons within a gold nucleus, negatively charged electrons on the innermost shells are pulled in closer to the nucleus, more than they are in silver. This close to the atom, in order to not fall into it, they must zip around the nucleus at over half the speed of light in contracted innermost shells.While they zip around at relativistic speeds, gaining effective relativistic mass, the two outermost electron shells (also drawn in towards the heavy nucleus) are slightly closer to each other as a result of this relativistic contraction. This means it takes slightly less energy, when hit by photons of light, to kick an electron to transition to the higher energy state. In silver, the energy needed for this kick is in the ultraviolet frequency, meaning visible light is not absorbed during the transition, and is reflected, giving it its silvery appearance. In gold, however, the energy required to kick an electron to its higher energy state is lower, in visible blue light. Blue light is absorbed, but the rest of the visible range is reflected back, with the reds and greens combining to make the yellow/golden color we love to gawp at so much.silver,electrons,atoms,physics,gold,precious metalslink to articlelink to articlelink to articleAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementlink to articlelink to articlelink to articleSign up today to get weekly science coverage direct to your inbox© 2025 IFLScience. All Rights Reserved. RSS

Source: https://www.iflscience.com/gold-looks-the-way-it-does-because-of-a-relativistic-effect-77594

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