The Colors Of The Elements

A guest article by Joseph Friedlander

I wanted to write a simple article to show children to get them interested in chemistry. There is no gigantic cosmic idea here, just Wikipedia pictures and the common theme of pretty chemicals. This article is best shown children with an adult by their side to explain things.

A good site to have the kids look at is http://ift.tt/1hbWtnD

To go to any Wiki element page start here for easy links http://ift.tt/1sWl2dE

I have long had an interest in the elements and part of that has been the colors of the elements. 
Since most elements are metals and since most metals are described as metallic looking or silvery, pronounced colors among elements are rare.  Some gases are colorless as well. So the elements that display colors are few in number.

(A side point about most elements being metals–astronomers in fact refer to anything heavier than hydrogen or helium as metals –even gasses like oxygen or chlorine — http://ift.tt/1TiBEhhand speak of the metallicity of stars) 

There are of course many colorful chemicals. 

from Wiki–
http://ift.tt/1ZKR3GT

II) sulfate pentahydrate	CuSO4 · 5H2O	Blue
Copper(II) benzoate	C14H10CuO4	Blue
Cobalt(II) chloride	CoCl2	Deep blue
Cobalt(II) chloride hexahydrate	CoCl2 · 6H2O	Deep magenta
Manganese(II) chloride tetrahydrate	MnCl2 · 4H2O	Pink
Copper(II) chloride dihydrate	CuCl2 · 2H2O	Blue-green
Nickel(II) chloride hexahydrate	NiCl2 · 6H2O	Green
Lead(II) iodide	PbI2	Yellow

There are colorful chemicals under the flame test

Because each element has an exactly defined line emission spectrum, scientists are able to identify them by the color of flame they produce. For example, copper produces a blue flame, lithium and strontium a red flame, calcium an orange flame, sodium a yellow flame, and barium a green flame.
Flame tests | Causes of Color – Webexhibits

http://ift.tt/1TiBFBH
http://ift.tt/1dVXzSA

from Wiki–

K	Potassium	Lilac
Li	Lithium	Carmine; invisible through green glass

Na

Sodium

Intense yellow; invisible through cobalt blue glass

Cu(II)

Copper(II) (non-halide)

Green

Ca

Calcium

Brick red

Strontium

Crimson to Scarlet, yellowish through green glass and violet through blue cobalt glass

and similarly under the bead test http://ift.tt/1TiBEOn

Chemicals can color fire http://ift.tt/1ZKR51n

from Wiki–

Color	Chemical	Image
Carmine (Dark Red)	Lithium chloride
Red	Strontium chloride or Strontium nitrate
Orange	Calcium chloride
Yellow	Sodium chloride (table salt) or Sodium carbonate
Apple Green	Borax (Sodium Borate)
Green	Copper(II) sulfate, Boric Acid
Blue	Copper(I) chloride, Butane
Violet	3 parts Potassium sulfate, 1 part Potassium nitrate (saltpeter)
Purple	Potassium chloride

There are colorful alloys. The diagram below shows how you mix gold copper and silver to get red gold , white gold or even green gold. Using Indium you can get blue and purple gold too. You can get even more colors by making crystals of metal with colorful oxidation states, especially transition elements. 

http://ift.tt/1Ky8G7D

A page for older readers on this http://ift.tt/1ZKR6T0

All the above are colorful but are not pure elements. This article focuses on the colors of elements.

To go to any Wiki element page start here for easy links http://ift.tt/1sWl2dE
Many elements have allotropic states that can give a different color to some temperature ranges of the element. Explained in more depth here  http://ift.tt/1TiBF4R

Everybody’s favorite– gold.

  Fluorine  Gas  when warm is pale yellow  http://ift.tt/1TiBI0l;