Question

Statement: Valuable gemstones such as rubies and sapphire contain aluminium oxides along with traces of transition metals as impurities.
State whether the given statement is true or false.
A.True
B.False

Answer 1

We know that transition elements are the elements that are present in the d-block of the periodic table, such as, iron, scandium, titanium etc. They are called transition elements because they have incompletely filled d-orbitals in their ground state or in any of the oxidation states.

Complete step by step answer:
Let’s discuss rubies and sapphires in detail. A ruby is a pink to blood red coloured gemstone which is a kind of mineral corundum. Its chemical composition is of aluminium oxide. It is one of the traditional gems. The colour, clarity and cut determine the quality of a ruby. The blood red coloured ruby is premium. The colour of the ruby is red due to the presence of chromium which is a transition metal as an impurity.
Now, we discuss sapphires in detail. A Sapphire is a kind of mineral corundum (aluminium oxide) found in a variety of colours such as blue, yellow, green, orange etc. Typically its colour is blue. There are some sapphires which can change its colour in different light. Impurities present in sapphires are chromium and vanadium which are transition elements.
So, we can say that both rubies and sapphires contain transition elements as impurities.

Hence, the statement is true.

Note: Transition elements are coloured because an electron undergoes excitation from a lower energy to a higher energy d orbital. This excitation causes light absorption. The frequency of absorbed light lies in the visible region. The observed colour corresponds to the complementary colour of the light absorbed.