  During the fracture of nanocontacts gold spontaneously forms freely suspended
chains of atoms, which is not observed for the iso-electronic noble metals Ag
and Cu. Au also differs from Ag and Cu in forming reconstructions at its
low-index surfaces. Using mechanically controllable break junctions we show
that all the 5d metals that show similar reconstructions (Ir, Pt and Au) also
form chains of atoms, while both properties are absent in the 4d neighbor
elements (Rh, Pd, Ag), indicating a common origin for these two phenomena. A
competition between s and d bonding is proposed as an explanation.
