Free-electron models

Arguments based on a free electron model can be made to explain the conductivity of a metal. It can be shown that the k will evolve following a Newtonian law [1] ... 

Another important accomplislnnent of the free electron model concerns tire heat capacity of a metal. At low temperatures, the heat capacity of a metal goes linearly with the temperature and vanishes at absolute zero. This behaviour is in contrast with classical statistical mechanics. According to classical theories, the equipartition theory predicts that a free particle should have a heat capacity of where is the Boltzmann constant. An ideal gas has a heat capacity consistent with tliis value. The electrical conductivity of a metal suggests that the conduction electrons behave like free particles and might also have a heat capacity of 3/fg,... 

The resolution of this issue is based on the application of the Pauli exclusion principle and Femii-Dirac statistics. From the free electron model, the total electronic energy, U, can be written as... 

Simple metals like alkalis, or ones with only s and p valence electrons, can often be described by a free electron gas model, whereas transition metals and rare earth metals which have d and f valence electrons camiot. Transition metal and rare earth metals do not have energy band structures which resemble free electron models. The fonned bonds from d and f states often have some strong covalent character. This character strongly modulates the free-electron-like bands. 

In addition to dielectric property determinations, one also can measure valence electron densities from the low-loss spectrum. Using the simple free electron model one can show that the bulk plasmon energy E is governed by the equation ... 

Slater s Xa method is now regarded as so much history, but it gave an important stepping stone towards modem density functional theory. In Chapter 12, I discussed the free-electron model of the conduction electrons in a solid. The electrons were assumed to occupy a volume of space that we identified with the dimensions of the metal under smdy, and the electrons were taken to be non-interacting. 

Electrons do of course interact with each other through their mutual Coulomb electrostatic potential, so an alternative step to greater sophistication might be to allow electron repulsion into the free-electron model. We therefore start again from the free-electron model but allow for the Coulomb repulsion between the electrons. We don t worry about the fermion nature of electrons at this point. 

Araki, G., and Araki, H., Progr. Theoret. Phys. [Kyoto) 11, 20, Interaction between electrons in one-dimensional free-electron model with application to absorption spectra of cyanine dyes. ... 

It is well known that the energy profiles of Compton scattered X-rays in solids provide a lot of important information about the electronic structures [1], The application of the Compton scattering method to high pressure has attracted a lot of attention since the extremely intense X-rays was obtained from a synchrotron radiation (SR) source. Lithium with three electrons per atom (one conduction electron and two core electrons) is the most elementary metal available for both theoretical and experimental studies. Until now there have been a lot of works not only at ambient pressure but also at high pressure because its electronic state is approximated by free electron model (FEM) [2, 3]. In the present work we report the result of the measurement of the Compton profile of Li at high pressure and pressure dependence of the Fermi momentum by using SR. 

In the free electron model, the electrons are presumed to be loosely bound to the atoms, making them free to move throughout the metal. The development of this model requires the use of quantum statistics that apply to particles (such as electrons) that have half integral spin. These particles, known as fermions, obey the Pauli exclusion principle. In a metal, the electrons are treated as if they were particles in a three-dimensional box represented by the surfaces of the metal. For such a system when considering a cubic box, the energy of a particle is given by... 

These three structures are the predominant structures of metals, the exceptions being found mainly in such heavy metals as plutonium. Table 6.1 shows the structure in a sequence of the Periodic Groups, and gives a value of the distance of closest approach of two atoms in the metal. This latter may be viewed as representing the atomic size if the atoms are treated as hard spheres. Alternatively it may be treated as an inter-nuclear distance which is determined by the electronic structure of the metal atoms. In the free-electron model of metals, the structure is described as an ordered array of metallic ions immersed in a continuum of free or unbound electrons. A comparison of the ionic radius with the inter-nuclear distance shows that some metals, such as the alkali metals are empty i.e. the ions are small compared with the hard sphere model, while some such as copper are full with the ionic radius being close to the inter-nuclear distance in the metal. A consideration of ionic radii will be made later in the ionic structures of oxides. 

Although the free electron model leads to a simple understanding of electrochemical phenomena, even in solution, it offers no explanation of the different conduction properties of different types of solid. In order to understand the conduction of solids it is necessary to extend the free electron model to take account of the periodic lattice of a solid. 

The Kronig-Penney model, although rather crude, has been used extensively to generate a substantial amount of useful solid-state theory [73]. Simple free-electron models have likewise been used to provide logical descriptions of a variety of molecular systems, by a method known in modified form as the Hiickel Molecular Orbital (HMO) procedure [74]. 

This free-electron model is readily extended to polyenes, such as hexatriene. 

The spectra of linear polyenes are modelled well as one-dimensional free-electron systems. The cyanine dyes are a classical example. They constitute a class of long chain conjugated systems with an even number n of 7r-electrons distributed over an odd number N = n — 1 of chain atoms. The cyanine absorption of longest wavelength corresponds to promotion of an electron from the highest occupied energy level, En/2 to the lowest unoccupied level, such that in terms of a free-electron model... 

Once more, free-electron models correctly predict many qualitative trends and demonstrate the appropriateness of the general concept of electron delocalization in molecules. Free electron models are strictly one-electron simulations. The energy levels that are used to predict the distribution of several delocalized electrons are likewise one-electron levels. Interelectronic effects are therefore completely ignored and modelling the behaviour of many-electron systems in the same crude potential field is ndt feasible. Whatever level of sophistication may be aimed for when performing more realistic calculations, the basic fact of delocalized electronic waves in molecular systems remains of central importance... 

The electronic heat capacity for the free electron model is a linear function of temperature only for T Tp = p / kp. Nevertheless, the Fermi temperature Tp is of the order of 105 K and eq. (8.46) holds for most practical purposes. The population of the electronic states at different temperatures as well as the variation of the electronic heat capacity with temperature for a free electron gas is shown in Figure 8.20. Complete excitation is only expected at very high temperatures, T>Tp. Here the limiting value for a gas of structureless mass points 3/2/ is approached. 

This consideration excludes the free-electron model for example, and the Floating Spherical Gaussian Orbital approach in its simplest form. 

The use of effective mass to understand the state of the microstructure is chosen to conserve the application of the free electron model by letting the mass of the electron incorporate the electron interactions with the lattice, which are experiencing potential energy interactions. Considering the total energy, E, of an electron in a solid, based on wave mechanics, then ... 

A representation of the free-electron model of metallic bonding. This model applies to metal alloys as well as to metallic elements. 

The free-electron model explains many properties of metals. For example ... 

The free-electron model is a simplified representation of metallic bonding. While it is helpful for visualizing metals at the atomic level, this model cannot sufficiently explain the properties of all metals. Quantum mechanics offers a more comprehensive model for metallic bonding. Go to the web site above, and click on Web Links. This will launch you into the world of molecular orbitals and band theory. Use a graphic organizer or write a brief report that compares the free-electron and band-theory models of metallic bonding. 

The simple free electron model (the Drude model) developed in Section 4.4 for metals successfully explains some general properties, such as the filter action for UV radiation and their high reflectivity in the visible. However, in spite of the fact that metals are generally good mirrors, we perceive visually that gold has a yellowish color and copper has a reddish aspect, while silver does not present any particular color that is it has a similarly high reflectivity across the whole visible spectrum. In order to account for some of these spectral differences, we have to discuss the nature of interband transitions in metals. 

Thus, the free-electron model is not valid when Eq. (3.7) applies since the wave is reflected. The E,k) curve constructed on this basis is like that obtained from the Kronig-Penney model bands of allowed and forbidden energy regions. 

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