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Originally Posted by Moontanman
So the color of copper has nothing to do with this effect?
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Nope. The transition energy between copper’s 3d and 4s orbital is small without the relativistic effects described in the links above. Copper’s nucleus (atomic number 29) is not electro-positive enough to significantly, relativistically contract the 4s orbital.
I realize you asked this question before at Hypo in the technology news forum regarding
this webpage and you got a different answer. But, looking at that page closely (it’s in question / answer format), it appears to me only to attribute relativistic effects to gold and not copper, saying “The 3d, filled in copper, is less shielded by the s and p subshells... Now when you get to gold (5d) relativistic effects become important.”
The
relativistic effects section of wiki's article on atomic orbital might be illuminating.
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Originally Posted by wiki
Examples of significant physical outcomes of this effect include the lowered melting temperature of mercury (which results from 6s electrons not being available for metal bonding) and the golden color of gold and caesium (which result from narrowing of 6s to 5d transition energy to the point that visible light begins to be absorbed).
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~modest
