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As quoted in an online version of: David R. Lide (ed), CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 84th Edition.CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida, 2003; Section 4, Properties of the Elements and Inorganic Compounds; Physical Properties of the Rare Earth Metals
Electrical conductivity of water samples is used as an indicator of how salt-free, ion-free, or impurity-free the sample is; the purer the water, the lower the conductivity (the higher the resistivity). Conductivity measurements in water are often reported as specific conductance, relative to the conductivity of pure water at 25 °C.
In solid-state physics, the valence band and conduction band are the bands closest to the Fermi level, and thus determine the electrical conductivity of the solid. In nonmetals, the valence band is the highest range of electron energies in which electrons are normally present at absolute zero temperature, while the conduction band is the lowest range of vacant electronic states.
Electrical conduction of metals is a well-known phenomenon and is attributed to the free conduction electrons, which can be measured as sketched in the figure. The current density j is observed to be proportional to the applied electric field and follows Ohm's law where the prefactor is the specific electrical conductivity .
Since metals can display multiple oxidation numbers, the exact definition of how many "valence electrons" an element should have in elemental form is somewhat arbitrary, but the following table lists the free electron densities given in Ashcroft and Mermin, which were calculated using the formula above based on reasonable assumptions about ...
The elemental metals have electrical conductivity values of from 6.9 × 10 3 S/cm for manganese to 6.3 × 10 5 S/cm for silver. In contrast, a semiconducting metalloid such as boron has an electrical conductivity 1.5 × 10 −6 S/cm. With one exception, metallic elements reduce their electrical conductivity when heated.
Metals are insoluble in water or organic solvents, unless they undergo a reaction with them. Typically, this is an oxidation reaction that robs the metal atoms of their itinerant electrons, destroying the metallic bonding. However metals are often readily soluble in each other while retaining the metallic character of their bonding.
The data below tabulates standard electrode potentials (E°), in volts relative to the standard hydrogen electrode (SHE), at: . Temperature 298.15 K (25.00 °C; 77.00 °F); ...