Einstein's Relativity Rewrites Rules for Chemical Bonds in Heavy Elements
Einstein's relativity rules chemical bonds in heavy elements, new research shows
Our team at Brown University has provided direct evidence that Einstein's theory of relativity fundamentally alters how triple chemical bonds form in heavy elements like bismuth. Using photoelectron spectroscopy, we discovered that the traditional textbook distinction between sigma and pi bonds blurs under relativistic effects. This finding challenges decades of chemical education and suggests a need to rewrite how we understand bonding in heavy elements, which could impact future technologies like solar cells and quantum computing.
We show direct spectroscopic evidence that what we learned in high school about chemical bonding isn't true in heavy elements.
- gcanyon
> The increased nuclear mass causes orbiting electrons to speed up to a significant fraction of the speed of light, where the rules of Einstein’s theory of relativity are important.
Fun fact: this is why mercury is liquid at room temperature. Its inner electrons move at close to 60% the speed of light, pulling in its outer electrons more tightly, making it harder for it to bond and be solid. (I am not a physicist, don't rely on my statements for your space ship design)
- kristianp
> The increased nuclear mass causes orbiting electrons to speed up to a significant fraction of the speed of light, where the rules of Einstein’s theory of relativity are important.
> In the relativistic regime, an electron’s spin — the magnetic moment that points either up or down — and the electron’s orbit are no longer independent of each other, a state known as spin-orbit coupling.
Interesting stuff. I've never heard of sigma or pi bonds.
- nanolith
Wait... wasn't it already understood that relativity influences electron orbits of heavy elements? I clearly remember being taught some of this in physics, in the mid-noughties.
For instance, we know that gold gets its color from relativistic effects.
- Svoka
For context: this is one more experimental confirmation of Dirac's equations (incorporating special relativity into quantum physics).
Very cool.
The paper PDF: https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/sites.brown.edu/dist/0/196/fil...
- cyberax
Relativity is also responsible for a lot of weird behaviors of heavy elements, such as the color of gold. Or that lead is a good material for batteries.
- de6u99er
It's beautiful to see Einstein's work still being validated.
- michaelsbradley
Can equivalent theoretical predictions be calculated in a Bohmian framework for the quantum aspects, or is this (potentially) an interesting case where there’s divergence and falsifiability?
- seanhunter
My most recent fun fact about chemistry is that the shape of the periodic table is as a result of the symmetry group of a sphere. This was part of this great talk https://www.youtube.com/live/btlQl93qOhc?is=7v7GQ92ozW_kpQtk