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This is because metals have essentially a better approximation to the free electron model, i.e. metals do not have complex band structures, electrons behave essentially as free particles and where, in the case of metals, the effective number of de-localized electrons is essentially the same as the valence number. [Ashcroft & Mermin 5]
Three-core copper wire power cable, each core with an individual colour-coded insulating sheath, all contained within an outer protective sheath. An electrical insulator is a material in which electric current does not flow freely. The atoms of the insulator have tightly bound electrons which cannot readily move.
Electromigration (red arrow) is due to the momentum transfer from the electrons moving in a wire. Electromigration is the transport of material caused by the gradual movement of the ions in a conductor due to the momentum transfer between conducting electrons and diffusing metal atoms.
For delocalized states, for example in one dimension – that is in a nanowire, for every energy there is a state with electrons flowing in one direction and another state with the electrons flowing in the other. For a net current to flow, more states for one direction than for the other direction must be occupied.
Free electrons in a conductor follow a random path. Without the presence of an electric field, the electrons have no net velocity. When a DC voltage is applied, the electron drift velocity will increase in speed proportionally to the strength of the electric field. The drift velocity in a 2 mm diameter copper wire in 1 ampere current is ...
The magnetic field (B, green lines) of one wire induces circular eddy currents (E) in the other wire. The eddy current flows in the opposite direction to the main current on the adjacent side of the wire (1) reducing it, but flows in the same direction as the main current on the far side of the wire (2), increasing it.
In air at STP the mean free path of molecules is about 96 nm. Since electrons are much smaller, their average distance between colliding with molecules is about 5.6 times longer, or about 0.5 μm. This is a substantial fraction of the 7.5 μm spacing between the electrodes for minimal arc voltage.
Research published in July 2009 by the University of Cambridge and the University of Birmingham in England showed that electrons could jump from the surface of the metal onto a closely located quantum wire by quantum tunneling, and upon doing so, will separate into two quasiparticles, named spinons and holons by the researchers. [3]