Good question... would a plasma qualify? Metallic luster is due to a sea of electrons, free to move and to reflect (well, re-radiate) incident radiation. A plasma can be created in a gas, such as the interstellar medium, or in Earth's atmosphere. The Kennelly-Heaviside layer is such a "shiny", reflective layer, causing skip signal propagation to extend the range of radio communication. So if you saw in radio wavelenghts, rather than the visual spectrum, plasma is shiny!
Another possibility would be a Bose-Einstein condensate... but the act of illuminating it tends to destroy it.
Good question... would a plasma qualify? Metallic luster is due to a sea of electrons, free to move and to reflect (well, re-radiate) incident radiation. A plasma can be created in a gas, such as the interstellar medium, or in Earth's atmosphere. The Kennelly-Heaviside layer is such a "shiny", reflective layer, causing skip signal propagation to extend the range of radio communication. So if you saw in radio wavelenghts, rather than the visual spectrum, plasma is shiny!
Another possibility would be a Bose-Einstein condensate... but the act of illuminating it tends to destroy it.
As for your question : I guess not! The colours of gases are caused by selective absorption of light so that the light coming through the gas is coloured - it is not light reflected from the gas.
Reflection occurs when light passes from an optically dense medium to an optically less dense medium, or vice versa. In other words, there has to be a change in the optical properties of a gas to cause reflection. The gas molecules individually are to small to significantly effect the photons of light.
As for your question : I guess not! The colours of gases are caused by selective absorption of light so that the light coming through the gas is coloured - it is not light reflected from the gas.
Reflection occurs when light passes from an optically dense medium to an optically less dense medium, or vice versa. In other words, there has to be a change in the optical properties of a gas to cause reflection. The gas molecules individually are to small to significantly effect the photons of light.
There is no clear border between liquids and gases at high pressures/temperatures so it shoud be possible to continuously transform gaseous mercury into liquid mercury which has the luster.More
@Anixx Yes, but then youre dealing with supercritical mercury, which regardless of its properties seems to me to go against the spirit of your original question. SC $\ce{Hg}$ would not fill the tube like a gas... first, it would settle to the bottom like a liquid; second, it would melt/explode the tube! ($T_c=1478\ ^\circ\mathrm{C}$, $P_c=1673\mathrm{\ bar}$).More
Hydrogen cannot simultaneously be a metal and a gas. By the application of enormous pressure, gaseous non-metallic hydrogen turns either into a solid or a liquid metal, and possibly a supercritical fluid metal. However, in the gaseous phase of a pressure-temperature diagram and its surrounding regions past the critical point, metallic bonding will always be lost, as metals require clusters of atoms in close proximity to interact, and gasses are by definition a phase where intermolecular attraction is subdued.More
Luster is an optical property of minerals, and a mineral is defined as a solid inorganic substance that occurs naturally (that includes metals, of course). The Mineralogic Society of America defines metallic luster (see link) as something that occurs in minerals which have a refractive index greater than 3.
I wasn't able to find any gases with a refractive index even close to the cutoff value. I'd say the answer is no, and that what might appear to be luster is instead scattering of incident light (not refraction).
Luster is an optical property of minerals, and a mineral is defined as a solid inorganic substance that occurs naturally (that includes metals, of course). The Mineralogic Society of America defines metallic luster (see link) as something that occurs in minerals which have a refractive index greater than 3.
I wasn't able to find any gases with a refractive index even close to the cutoff value. I'd say the answer is no, and that what might appear to be luster is instead scattering of incident light (not refraction).
Good question... would a plasma qualify? Metallic luster is due to a sea of electrons, free to move and to reflect (well, re-radiate) incident radiation. A plasma can be created in a gas, such as the interstellar medium, or in Earth's atmosphere. The Kennelly-Heaviside layer is such a "shiny", reflective layer, causing skip signal propagation to extend the range of radio communication. So if you saw in radio wavelenghts, rather than the visual spectrum, plasma is shiny!
Another possibility would be a Bose-Einstein condensate... but the act of illuminating it tends to destroy it.
Good question... would a plasma qualify? Metallic luster is due to a sea of electrons, free to move and to reflect (well, re-radiate) incident radiation. A plasma can be created in a gas, such as the interstellar medium, or in Earth's atmosphere. The Kennelly-Heaviside layer is such a "shiny", reflective layer, causing skip signal propagation to extend the range of radio communication. So if you saw in radio wavelenghts, rather than the visual spectrum, plasma is shiny!
Another possibility would be a Bose-Einstein condensate... but the act of illuminating it tends to destroy it.
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Not an answer to your question ... but This may interest you! (Or your curiosity)
Metallic Gas : http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/researchers-turn-hydrogen-gas-metal
Magnetic Gas : http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-09/scientists-create-first-ever-magnetic-gas
As for your question : I guess not! The colours of gases are caused by selective absorption of light so that the light coming through the gas is coloured - it is not light reflected from the gas.
Reflection occurs when light passes from an optically dense medium to an optically less dense medium, or vice versa. In other words, there has to be a change in the optical properties of a gas to cause reflection. The gas molecules individually are to small to significantly effect the photons of light.
Not an answer to your question ... but This may interest you! (Or your curiosity)
Metallic Gas : http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/researchers-turn-hydrogen-gas-metal
Magnetic Gas : http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-09/scientists-create-first-ever-magnetic-gas
As for your question : I guess not! The colours of gases are caused by selective absorption of light so that the light coming through the gas is coloured - it is not light reflected from the gas.
Reflection occurs when light passes from an optically dense medium to an optically less dense medium, or vice versa. In other words, there has to be a change in the optical properties of a gas to cause reflection. The gas molecules individually are to small to significantly effect the photons of light.
More
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Luster is an optical property of minerals, and a mineral is defined as a solid inorganic substance that occurs naturally (that includes metals, of course). The Mineralogic Society of America defines metallic luster (see link) as something that occurs in minerals which have a refractive index greater than 3.
I wasn't able to find any gases with a refractive index even close to the cutoff value. I'd say the answer is no, and that what might appear to be luster is instead scattering of incident light (not refraction).
Luster is an optical property of minerals, and a mineral is defined as a solid inorganic substance that occurs naturally (that includes metals, of course). The Mineralogic Society of America defines metallic luster (see link) as something that occurs in minerals which have a refractive index greater than 3.
I wasn't able to find any gases with a refractive index even close to the cutoff value. I'd say the answer is no, and that what might appear to be luster is instead scattering of incident light (not refraction).
More
VOTE