Can you deduce the color of a substance from only knowing it's

>>8191565
I'm no chemist but we had to memorize the color of certain molecules

If I'm not wrong: permanganate __ purple.

So its a question of seeing the elements in different experiments...

>>8191565
The complexity and size of the attached molecules bend light (refraction) to generate what we see as color. Bright and vivid colors tend to be from very complexly-chained compounds. Why simple chemicals are colorless (water, air, alcohol, vinegar, etc.)

>>8191580
Continued: This also means that compounds with the exact same molecules can have a different color. This is due to a different structure. Example: if the same chemical say H10SeC5Ni had two structures. One structure was a straight line while another was in the shape of a polygon. Both would be different colors (say orange and blue). The color depends on light hitting the compound then being refracted.

pretty simple
you wold have to build a "wave tracing " simulation
that would be capable of adding sin functions and calculate diffration and refraction and just shoot a ray of light on your molecule to see what wave lenghts end up at the end

>>8191604
samefag of course you wold need to know the shape of your molecule
wich is pretty easy to do i think
im not a chemist but we had to learn the shape of h20 and other molécules in chem class with all the angles and stuff

>>8191583
>>8191604
>>8191607

these, its more dependent on the shape.

>>8191575
this anon is right, but its too general. permanganate changes colors under different temperatures and other molecules do as well. so if you are trying to look at a sketch of an organic molecule and determine the color, you arent going to be able to do it

>>8191604
>you wold have to build a "wave tracing " simulation
Wouldn't it be more complicated than that? I mean at those small scales we have to expect quantum effects, and I doubt that we possess enough computational power to accurately simulate this.

File: 1467941769823.jpg (34KB, 368x417px) Image search: [Google]

34KB, 368x417px

Lmfao you're all retarded
>mfw math and physics majors think they can opine on any subject as if they have any sort of understanding

Look up Woodward's rules OP, and ligand/crystal field theory

>>8191565
Yes, things have color because of chemical reactions.

>>8191565
By looking at it irl

>>8193354
Larger structures on the order of 100nm in size effect the color of the substance just as much as the absorption properties of the individual molecules.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOSWHyCVX-o

Vertically aligned nanotube arrays trap light of a wide range of frequencies long enough for all of it to be absorbed.

The simplest example is graphene and diamond. They're both just carbon, but have incredibly different properties. You can find the colors of these things from a purely theoretical standpoint. I assert that this treatment belongs more in condensed matter physics than chemistry. But Im a little biased.