No Nu Metal or Metalcore songs please
The answer is a combination of the above: fresh metal surfaces absorb light and immediately re-radiate the photons. If the metal is inert, like gold, it stays nice and shiny, but most metals react with air or with sulfur compounds in the air to form a surface coating of oxides or sufides. Silver tarnishes, iron rusts, pennies get dark and dull. Remove the coating, or cut into the metal, and you expose a fresh, shiny surface.
Thats a property of metals i.e. they shine on polishing or on being cut (freshly) They loose their shine after some time cuz they form oxides with oxygen in air. eg. Na turns white
It depends on the metal and it depends on how you cut it. Most metals are not found on earth in metallic form, they are found as minerals, oxides, sulfides, sulfates, carbonates, etc. This is the reason that most metals corrode, they are trying to return to the native state (technically, reducing chemical energy). So... freshly machined metals often look shiny because machining has removed the oxidized surface.
When freshly cut, metals shine. This can be due to the mobile electrons. When light falls on the metal, the incident light collides with the mobile electrons, which get excited. When these excited electrons revert to their original position, they give of energy in the form of light. This light appears to be reflected from the surface of the metal and so it seems to posses its characteristic luster/ shine. Hope this helps!
