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sigmoid10today at 1:09 PM3 repliesview on HN

I guess the more interesting question is why this doesn't happen for neighbouring elements in the periodic table?


Replies

Laforettoday at 2:10 PM

Relativistic effects are observed with many other 6th and 7th period elements. For example, the yellow colour of gold and caesium comes from altered electron energy levels due to relativistic orbital contraction, so are the special catalytic and bonding properties of platinum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativistic_quantum_chemistry

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gus_massatoday at 4:32 PM

It also has an effect, it is a small correction in the energies and bounding. Sometimes it's enough to change the color or state, sometimes it's a correction like making it 1% softer or harder and is not interesting unless you are a specialist.

beacon294today at 2:17 PM

It would be the element underneath it which is synthetic. But it is interesting that all the elements in that row are soft or brittle in pre form or in some compounds.