Related: Why are most metals gray/silver?
After reading Johannes’ impressive answer to Ali Abbasinasab question of why do most metals appear silver in color with the exception of gold (and copper), my lack of experience with quantum mechanics (I’m an undergraduate and I will take graduate quantum mechanics this coming quarter) is not enough for me to appreciate the relativistic quantum solution. What struck me most was Stefan Bischof’s statement: “Here physics has to explain more than just “is there a d valence electron”.” I took this as a challenge to see if I could explain the golden color of gold (and copper). Here is my humble attempt to answer this very question using scattering and EM approaches.
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