Heat Drude theory

Recall the other serious difficulty discussed in Chapter 17 that arises from the fact that the classically predicted heat capacity of the electrons is not observed even though they are the major contributor to both the thermal and electrical conductivity of metals. We will find yet another problem with the classical theory when we take up the topic of paramagnetism and find that the electronic contribution expected from classical theory is not observed. Despite the success of the classical Drude theory of the free electron gas in being able to describe many of the observed properties of metals, it was these discrepancies between the classical theory and observation that prompted theorists to reexamine the classical theory of the electron and to apply the quantum mechanical treatment that had been developed to explain the electronic structure of atoms and molecules to describe the behavior of electrons in metals. 

Fowler proposed a theory in 1931 which showed that the photoelectric current variation with light frequency could be accounted for by the effect of temperature on the number of electrons available for emission, in accordance with the distribution law of Sommerfeld s theory of metals. Sommerfeld s theory (1928) had resolved some of the problems surrounding the original models for electrons in metals. In classical Drude theory, a metal had been envisaged as a three-dimensional potential well (or box) containing a gas of freely mobile electrons. This adequately explained their high electrical and thermal conductivities. However, because experimentally it is found that metallic electrons do not show a gaslike heat capacity, the Boltzman distribution law is inappropriate. A Fermi-Dirac distribution function is required, consistent with the need that the electrons obey the Pauli exclusion principle, and this distribution function has the form... 

Einstein (f,) remarked that this point of view can be carried over to the theory of the energy content of a solid body if we suppose that the positive ions of Drude s theory ( 198) may be looked upon as the vibrating resonators, and the seat of the heat content of the body (Korperwarme). He calculated the expression ... 

Metals form a class of solids with characteristic macroscopic properties. They are ductile, have a silver-white luster, and they conduct electricity and heat remarkably well. An early, but still relevant microscopic model aimed at explaining the electrical conductivity, heat conductivity, and optical properties was proposed by Drude [10]. His model incorporates two important successes of modem science the discovery of the electron in 1887 by J. J. Thomson, and the molecular kinetic gas theory put forward by Boltzmann and Maxwell in the second half of the 19th century. 

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