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In solid-state physics, the free electron model is a quantum mechanical model for the behaviour of charge carriers in a metallic solid. It was developed in 1927, [1] principally by Arnold Sommerfeld, who combined the classical Drude model with quantum mechanical Fermi–Dirac statistics and hence it is also known as the Drude–Sommerfeld model.
Drude applied the kinetic theory of a dilute gas, despite the high densities, therefore ignoring electron–electron and electron–ion interactions aside from collisions. [ Ashcroft & Mermin 13 ] The Drude model considers the metal to be formed of a collection of positively charged ions from which a number of "free electrons" were detached.
Free electron model [ edit ] After taking into account the quantum effects, as in the free electron model , the heat capacity, mean free path and average speed of electrons are modified and the proportionality constant is then corrected to π 2 3 ≈ 3.29 {\displaystyle {\frac {\pi ^{2}}{3}}\approx 3.29} , which agrees with experimental values.
The creation of further free electrons is only achieved by impact ionization. Thus Paschen's law is not valid if there are external electron sources. This can, for example, be a light source creating secondary electrons by the photoelectric effect. This has to be considered in experiments. Each ionized atom leads to only one free electron.
Band theory derives these bands and band gaps by examining the allowed quantum mechanical wave functions for an electron in a large, periodic lattice of atoms or molecules. Band theory has been successfully used to explain many physical properties of solids, such as electrical resistivity and optical absorption , and forms the foundation of the ...
The dispersion relations show conics of the free-electron energy dispersion parabolas for all possible reciprocal lattice vectors. This results in a very complicated set intersecting of curves when the dispersion relations are calculated because there is a large number of possible angles between evaluation trajectories, first and higher order ...
Free electron in physics may refer to: Electron, as a free particle; Solvated electron; Charge carrier, as carriers of electric charge; Valence electron, as an outer shell electron that is associated with an atom; Valence and conduction bands, as a conduction band electron relative to the electronic band structure of a solid
Under the free electron model, the electrons in a metal can be considered to form a uniform Fermi gas. The number density N / V {\displaystyle N/V} of conduction electrons in metals ranges between approximately 10 28 and 10 29 electrons per m 3 , which is also the typical density of atoms in ordinary solid matter.