What are the Colors of All the Chemical Elements?

This might interest many. Is there a website that lists the colors of all the chemical elements?

I am especially interested in the color of hydrogen. The following website indicates that hydrogen is colorless (does this mean it is lighter than white?):

www.chemicalelements.com/elements/h.html

I am also interested as to why the chemical elements are the color that they are.

Moderators, as always, please move this thread to BTS if you deem appropriate.

Colourless is transparent.



Their color is dictated by what frequencies of energy they absorb and reflect.



[edit on 11/4/07 by SteveR]

Elements don't have colors.

The wavelengths of light they emit is defined by the energy level of the particles orbiting the element.

It entirely depends on all factors influencing the element at the moment you try to record its light, what colors you'll percieve.

I suggest you have a look at the following video's which are Physics lectures at MIT if your interested in the broader subject.

video.google.com...

Also some elements may have many colours.

For example Carbon is almost colourless when in its diamond allotrope but black in its graphite form.

Originally posted by GreatTech
The following website indicates that hydrogen is colorless (does this mean it is lighter than white?)

Hydrogen in gaseous form is a colourless gas. Or rather we should say it is transparent. Like Oxygen and Nitrogen (which form virtually all of our atmosphere). Hydrogen is - despite its gaseous form under normal conditions - a metal though. It takes immense pressure to create solid hydrogen, which is only slightly above absolute zero.

Originally posted by thematrix
Elements don't have colors.

If elements do not have colors, what does? Electromagnetic waves? Or the interaction between elements and electromagnetic waves?

Originally posted by gfad
Also some elements may have many colours.

For example Carbon is almost colourless when in its diamond allotrope but black in its graphite form.

Can elements take on all known colors? Under what conditions could they?

Elements do have colors. Gold is an element, is that colorless? In solid form, hydrogen is a silvery metal.