814 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

C H A P T E R

28.1 INTRODUCTION
Materials having low electrical resistivity are known as conductors. Metals and their alloys
belong to this group of materials. In metals the valence electrons are loosely bound to their
individual atoms. They become free and are responsible for the conduction of electricity and
heat in metals. Free electron theory was proposed by Drude by assuming that the valence
electrons become free in metals and move about randomly within the metal much the same

by assuming that the velocity distribution of the electrons obeyed the classical Maxwell-

electron model by incorporating Fermi-Dirac statistics. It too could not succeed to explain all
-
fully explained the electrical behaviour of solids.
28.2 ELECTRICAL CONDUCTION

E=
where L

current I Q transported through the area

I=
conducting electricity.

I
temperature is directly proportional to the potential difference V applied across the solid.
I= Ohm’s law
where R is the electrical resistance
Conductors 815

they are not impeded in their motion.

They travel along straight line paths and
acquire kinetic energy which is equal to
the work done by the accelerating electric

opposition while moving through a solid.

The opposition to the electron motion
in materials is manifest as electrical
resistance. The electrical resistance offered Fig. 28.1. Schematic of the circuit for determining
by a solid is found to depend on the the conductivity of a solid
physical dimensions of the solid.
R
where L is the length and A
R=
is called electrical resistivity. It is a material constant and does not depend on the
dimensions of the solid.
=

The reciprocal of the electrical resistivity is known as electrical conductivity

=

=
Electrical conductivity
28.3 CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIALS

Table 1: Resistivities and conductivities of some solids

Resistivity Conductivity
Material
Ohm.m S/m
Silver
Copper
Aluminium
Steel
Lead
Carbon
Germanium
816 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

Silicon
Aluminium glass
Borosilicate glass
Polyethylene

called conductors.

insulators.

called semiconductors.

28.4 FREE ELECTRON MODEL OF SOLIDS

that the valence electrons are involved in electrical conduction in metals and alloys. The

free in solids and move about

This is the free electron model which is applicable to all the three categories of solids. This

magnetic properties of solids.

electrical behaviour and the distinction between the three types of solids.
Classical free electron theory:

Drude-Lorentz theory. In this theory it was assumed that valence electrons become
free in metals and move about randomly within the metal. In this theory it was
assumed that the free electrons move in a region of constant potential. Just as the

and semiconductors.
Quantum free electron theory:

of constant potential. This theory is based on the particle character of electron and
did not take into account of its wave character. The theory failed to explain other
Conductors 817

Band theory of solids:

theory takes into account that electrons exhibit wave character as they move between
atoms in a solid. It further assumed that the potential varies in a periodic manner in

28.5 CLASSICAL FREE ELECTRON THEORY OF METALS

Free electron gas

electrons. The ions cores are immobile and consist of positive nucleus and the bound
electrons. The valence electrons get detached from the parent atoms during the process of
free
electrons
and the mutual repulsion among the electrons is neglected. The behaviour of free electrons
moving within the metal is considered to be similar to that of atoms in perfect gas. These free
electrons are therefore referred to as free electron gas
electron inside the metal is less than the potential energy of an identical electron just outside

difference serves as a potential barrier and stops the free electrons from leaving the surface of

are called conduction electrons as they are responsible for conduction of electricity in the
metals.
Thermal motion of free electrons
The free electrons keep moving randomly in all directions through the lattice structure of the

and uniform.
Drift motion of free electrons

accelerates the electrons. The electrons acquire velocity and move in a direction opposite to

called drift. The drift velocity gained by an electron due to acceleration is lost completely

velocity at the next collision. The process goes on repeating and the electron moves on an
average with a mean drift velocity d. The magnitude of the drift velocity is limited by the
818 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

drift current or
conduction current.
Mean Collision time,

This is the process of scattering of electrons. For simplicity we say that electron underwent a

in another direction and this goes on. The time elapsed between two successive collisions is
not a constant but varies. The number of collisions per second that an electron makes with
the ion cores is proportional to its speed. The average duration of time that elapses between
two successive collisions is called mean collision time of the electron. It means that the
electron on the average travels for a time
time since its last collision. The collision time is given by
=

where is known as mean free path and the rms

Mean free path,
The average distance traveled by an electron between any two consecutive collisions is known
as mean free path . The mean free path is given by the product of rms velocity of electrons
and mean collision time.
=
28.6 DRIFT VELOCITY
eE.
If is the velocity of free electron and is the average time between two consecutive

written as –m
written as
=
where m is the mass of the electron and E

velocity d
reduces to

d =

where d is the steady state velocity of the electron and is known as drift velocity. The drift
m
28.7 ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY
n S n is
called the free electron density or free electron concentration in the solid.
Conductors 819

The total number of electrons in the metal specimen is given by

N
N = nAL
The total charge present in the solid block may be written as
Q = Ne = nAle

I=

The term L t represents velocity and gives the average drift velocity d of electrons in the
solid.
I = neA d
J=
J = ne d

J=

=E =

or J= E Point form of Ohm’s law

or = ne
where is called electron mobility.

depends mainly on the free electron concentration in it. The large electrical conductivity of

one may explain the very low conductivity of insulators as due to non-availability of free
electrons in them and the moderate conductivity in semiconductors as due to the presence of

case of semiconductors and insulators.

Example 28.1. Find the drift velocity of free electrons in a copper wire of cross-sectional area
10 mm3 when the wire carries a current of 100 A. Assume that each copper atom contributes
one electron to the free electron gas. Density of copper is 8969 kg/m3 and its atomic weight
is 63.54.
Solution: n = Atomic density, N × contribution
from each atom x
820 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

n = .

Drift velocity of free electrons in a metal is given by

d = = 7.4 × 10–4m/s.

28.8 MOBILITY

d. The drift

d E
or d = E
where is the proportionality constant and is called electron mobility.
electron mobility
=

m
m
Example 28.2. Find the mobility of electrons in copper if there are 9 × 1028 valence electrons/
m3 and the conductivity of copper is 6 × 107 mho/m.
Solution. =ne .

= = 4.16 × 10–3 m2/V.s

28.9 RELAXATION TIME

d
velocity of the free electrons decays exponentially as a result of collisions with positive ions.
The decay is given by the expression
d(t d e–t
where
If t = d(t d e– =

The duration of time in which the drift velocity of an electron decays to times of its
e
initial velocity is known as relaxation time. It gives the time taken by electrons in a conductor

s.
Example 28.3. Find the relaxation time of conduction electrons in a metal if its resistivity is
1.54 × 10–8 m and it has 5.8 × 1028 conduction electrons/m3.
Conductors 821

Solution. =

= = 3.9 × 10–14s.

28.10 THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

bar divided by time and area is proportional to the temperature gradient

where Q is the thermal energy conducted through a cross-sectional area A in time t between
two planes with a temperature gradient of . The above relation may be written in equation
form as
J=
where J K thermal
conductivity

conductivity K the quantity of heat crossing per unit time through a

unit area and maintaining a unit temperature difference across the body

K=

28.10.1 Expression for Thermal Conductivity

that the highly mobile free electron gas is responsible for transporting thermal energy through

an expression for thermal conductivity making use of the kinetic theory of gases.

exists in the x

volume at the center of the bar whose faces

have
is the mean free path of electrons.
ssume that at the distance from the
centre x the average electron had its last Fig. 28.2
822 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

collision and gained energy of that place. Now we calculate the energy E carried by electrons
that drift from the left into the selected volume.
E z kT .

n be the electron concentration in the material and be the velocity of electrons.

F z is given by
z = n

E =

The same number of electrons drifts from right to left through the volume under consider-
ation. These electrons carry a lower energy E because of the lower temperature of the

E =
The excess thermal energy transferred per unit time into the unit volume is
J = E –E =

conductivity as
K=
=

K=

28.11 WIEDEMANN-FRANZ LAW

the ratio should be of K

K and .
the ratio of thermal to electrical conductivity of a metal
is proportional to the absolute temperature and the ratio is constant for all metals at a
given temperature.
K
T

or =L
where L is a constant called the Lorentz number.
Derivation

K=
Conductors 823

=
The ratio of thermal conductivity to electrical conductivity is given by
K
=

But m = kinetic energy = .

K
=

K
or =

K
or = LT

where L=

metal is proportional to the absolute temperature and the ratio is a constant.

responsible for both electrical and thermal conductivity.

28.12 LORENTZ NUMBER

electrical conductivity and its absolute temperature.

L=

L=

Now substituting the values of k and e L.

L=

This classical value is only half of the experimental value. Using the expressions derived
L is given by

L=

k and e
L
The above value agrees well with the experimental value.
Example 28.4. The electrical resistivity of copper at 27°C is 1.72×10–8 m. Compute its
thermal conductivity if the Lorentz number is 2.26×10–8 W K–2.
824 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

Solution. =L K= = 394 Wm–1K–1.

Example 28.5. The thermal and electrical conductivities of copper at 200°C are 390 Wm–1K–1
and 5.87 × 107 –1 m–1. Calculate Lorentz number.

Solution. L = = 2.267 × 10–8 W K–2.

28.13 RESISTANCE
Origin of Resistance
The origin of electrical resistance is assumed to be due to repeated collisions of electrons

thought to be the stationary positive ions in the lattice. If it were

of a metal is inversely proportional to the electron mean free path and a decrease in resistivity

is obvious that the classical picture was incorrect because we have not taken into account the
wave nature of electrons.

electrons at the imperfections in the lattice. The imperfections are the deviations from perfect

lattice defects etc are the imperfections that exist in a real solid and all these cause electron
scattering and contribute to the resistivity of the material.
Temperature dependence of Resistivity

T and remains

is attributed to the presence of

impurity atoms in small concentra-
tions and also to geometrical
imperfections like grain

the metal. This resistance is called

residual resistivity. The residual Fig. 28.3

i
i

phonons. The phonon

Conductors 825

heat of metallic lattice is proportional to T

the probability of scattering are proportional to T
time is dependent on the scattering angle that would give rise to resistivity variation
with temperature as T ph T ·T =T -

ph can be assigned to phonon scattering.

The total resistivity of a metal at any given temperature is a sum of resistivity due to
i ph
(T i + ph
The above equation is known as “Matthiessen’s rule”.
=

or =
i

28.14 DRAWBACKS OF CLASSICAL FREE ELECTRON THEORY

The free electron model is highly successful in explaining many physical properties of metals

to account for some of the other properties. We cite some important failures of the model here.

metals should have lesser electrical conductivity compared to the divalent and
trivalent metals.
-
ductors and insulators.

=
When the above expression is used to calculate the mean free path of electron in

classical theory that the origin of resistivity is due to frequent collisions of electrons

long distance through the lattice without collisions.

kT
826 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

each atom contributes one valence electron to the electron gas and there will be N
free electrons per unit volume of the crystal. Then the total energy of electrons is
given by
E=

nd
t
[C ]el =

N and k C ]el
about hundred times greater than the experimentally measured value. This result

statistics is not applicable to the free electrons in a metal.

28.15 QUANTUM FREE ELECTRON THEORY

included (i ii
quantum free electron theory.
The main assumptions of this theory are:
(i
set of energy levels.
(ii

(iii

(iv
individual electrons may be ignored.
28.16 DENSITY OF ENERGY STATES
Number of Energy States

the shape of a cube with the side L. We assume that the free electrons travel absolutely

Principle is called Fermi gas

E=

The state of a free electron is determined by the four quantum numbers nx ny nz and by
the spin quantum number ms = .

squares of the quantum numbers nx ny nz . We get the same value for energy for several
different combinations of these three quantum numbers. Corresponding to each set we can
Conductors 827

quantum state by
a
where the values of quantum numbers are denoted along the three axes respectively.

Fig. 28.4

n may be drawn from the origin of the coordinate system to

a point (nx ny nz
n =
It is easy to see that all points on the surface of a sphere of radius n will correspond to the
s E.
Number of energy states within a sphere of radius n = Volume of the sphere = n .

n-values can only

b
E is

Number of energy states within one octant of the sphere of radius n = n

n + dn
corresponding to energy (E + dE
=
The number of energy states having energy values between E and (E + dE
N(E dE =

Terms corresponding to higher powers of dn are negligibly small and are hence neglected.
N(E dE =

We know that
E=
828 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

n =

or n=

n dn =

N(E dE =

There are two spin states ms =

P energy
states

N(E dE =

or N(E dE =

Density of Energy States

The density of states is given by the number of available electron states per unit volume per
E.
Z(E dE =
Z(E density of states function. It may noted that Z(E
dimensions (L Z(E as
the number of available states per unit energy interval centered around E.
28.16.1 Energy Distribution of Electrons
Density of energy states in the energy interval E and E + dE is given by
Z(E dE =

under the curve represents the number of electrons in the metal. Note that the number of
available energy levels at the lower end of the parabola is considerably less than at higher
energies.
The plot of Z(E E at T E = EF. This distribution of
electron energies is understandable. The electrons cannot crowd in the lower energy levels
Conductors 829

since they obey Pauli exclusion principle.

They start with the lowest energy level and
go on occupying higher and higher levels in
pairs until all of them are accommodated. The
highest energy occupied is EF .
The plot of Z(E E at a much
higher temperature is also shown in the Fig.

the corresponding curve gives the number of

Fig. 28.5

slightly.

These levels make up a narrow band of width kT directly adjacent to the Fermi level.
EF jump into levels with energy somewhat
above EF and a new energy distribution of electrons is obtained.

28.17 CARRIER CONCENTRATION IN METALS

The density of states represents the number of states that could be occupied by charge carriers.
E
f(E
energy E
both on the number of available states lying in that range and on the probability that carriers

range dE is obtained by multiplying the density of states in that range with the probability of
dn
energy between E and E + dE is given by
dn = f (E Z(E dE
The probability that an electron occupies an energy level E at thermal equilibrium is
given by

f (E

where EF is known as Fermi level.

By substituting for f (E N(E

dn =

conductor is given by
nC =
830 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

28.18 FERMI ENERGY, EF

levels with an energy E less than a certain value EF

the levels with E > EF EF Fermi
energy and the corresponding energy level is known as Fermi level. The total number of free
electrons is equal to the number of quantum states up to the energy EF. Note the distinction
between energy level and energy state as used here; a quantum state accommodates only one
electron whereas an energy level accommodates two electrons. If we set the number of states

N=

or N=

where we have denoted L = V and EF EF

EF

EF

where nC =
concentration in the metal.
EF nC in
EF
28.18.1 Variation of Fermi Energy with Temperature
Fermi energy decreases when the temperature of the metal is increased. It can be shown that
when kT << EF EF.

EF

From the above expression it follows that the temperature dependence of the Fermi level
is very slight and for all practical purposes we assume that EF = EF

Example 28.6. Calculate the Fermi energy of sodium at 0K assuming that it has one free
electron per atom and density of sodium is 970 kg/m3 and atomic weight 23.

Solution. nC =

EF J
Conductors 831

= = 3.1 eV.

28.19 FERMI-DIRAC DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION

We are interested in knowing how electrons are distributed among the various energy levels

to electrons because (i exclusion principle and (ii indistinguishable

particles. The statistical distribution function applicable to quantum particles is the Fermi–
Dirac distribution function.
The probability that an electron occupies an energy level E at thermal equilibrium is

f(E

In general EF may or may not correspond to an energy level but it provides a reference
with which other energies can be compared. The function f (E Fermi factor.
The above equation is known as Fermi-Dirac equation or Fermi-Dirac distribution
function. Note that the probability of the electron to occupy the energy level E increases with
temperature.
28.20 QUANTUM FREE ELECTRON THEORY OF ELECTRICAL
CONDUCTION

occupying the higher energy levels would possess higher energies. The highest energy level is
called the Fermi energy level EF
EF
the density of states is highest around EF.

p = .
If the momentum of
the electron is plotted

the momenta of
conduction electrons

points. The points

correspond to the tips
of the k-vectors. In the
absence of the electric Fig. 28.6
832 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

EF. The outermost

kF
sphere is called a Fermi surface

states from unoccupied states. For every occupied state k there is an occupied state (–k

across the material.

F
F=

or = –eE ( p=

uncompensated and cause the observed current.

k(t k
It means that the center of the Fermi sphere moves in a time t = F to a center at
k=
If n
density would be given by
J = n(–e = = E

= E

= E

Conductivity =

conductivity is given by

=
Conductors 833

where m* is known as the effective mass of electron.

28.21 FAILURE OF QUANTUM FREE ELECTRON THEORY

The quantum free electron model of solids could explain the properties of conductors such as

accounted on the basis of this model.

values are distributed into energy bands

QUESTIONS

(a
(b
i ii
(Anna Univ., 2006)
(Anna Univ., 2006)

(G.T.U., 2009)
(Anna Univ., 2005)

(VTU, 2007), (Anna Univ., 2006)

(VTU, 2008)

low temperatures. (VTU, 2007)

i
(ii (Anna Univ., 2006)

(Anna Univ., 2006)

(Anna Univ., 2007)
(Anna Univ., 2005, 2006)
(Anna Univ., 2005)

(Anna Univ., 2006)

(VTU, 2007)

(Anna Univ., 2007)

834 A Textbook of Engineering Physics

metals at T

and energy. (VTU, 2007)

(VTU, 2008)

mechanical treatment.

theory. (VTU, 2007)

PROBLEMS

ohm m
silver. [Ans: 5.86 × 1028; 7.25 × 10–3 m2/V.s]