Free Electron Theory of Solids
BPT: 602: Solid State Physics
Tutorial - 1
Banaras Hindu University 29/01/2022 Sterlin
Free Electron Theory
The electrons in the outermost orbital's of the atoms determine its electrical properties.
The electron theory of solids aims to explain the electrical, thermal and magnetic properties
of solids.
This theory has been developed in three main stages.
1. Classical free electron theory (or) Drude-Lorentz free electron theory
2. Quantum free electron theory
3. Band theory of solids.
Classical free electron theory:
Drude and Lorentz developed this theory in 1900. According to this theory the
metals containing free electrons obey the laws of Classical Mechanics. The free
electrons or conduction electrons move in a constant lattice potential and they
obey Maxwell-Boltzman statistics.
Quantum free electron theory:
Somerfield developed this theory during 1928. According to this theory free
electrons obey the Quantum laws. The conduction electrons obey Fermi-Dirac
statistics.
Band theory of solids or Zone theory:
Bloch proposed Band theory of solids in 1928. According to this theory, the free
electrons in solids move in a Periodic potential provided by the lattice and the
theory is also called as the zone theory of solids.
Classical free electron theory of metals:
The metals form a unique type of bonding known as metallic bonding
and form the lattice structure.
Unlike ionic and covalent bonding where the sharing of electrons is
between two atoms, in metallic bonding the electrons remain localized,
the bond is formed among all the atoms in the lattice and the free
electrons from each atom is shared by the whole lattice.
These free electrons move freely throughout the lattice and hence are
termed as electron gas.
The valance electrons are also called as conduction electrons as it is
responsible for electrical and thermal conduction in metals and it obey free electron
Pauli’s exclusion principle.
Since, the conduction electrons move in a uniform electrostatic field of + + + +
positive ion cores, the potential energy remains constant and it is
considered to be zero. 1-D Lattice
Neglecting the electron-electron interaction and the electron-ion V0
V0
interaction, it appears as if the electrons move in a confined potential
well. This idea was given by Drude and he utilized it to explain many
properties of metals such as electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity
etc.
1-D potential well
Classical free electron theory of metals:
Drude applied equations of simple mechanics on the electrons to derive
several expressions and also arrive at the Ohm’s Law.
Normally the electrons are in a random motion throughout the lattice,
which is primarily due to thermal energy, and the net average velocity of
random electrons will be zero in metals. However when electric field is
applied to the metal, another component of velocity is superimposed on
each electron due to the force acting on it by virtue of its charge.
According to Newtonian mechanics we can write
Where,
e = charge on electron,
Integrating equation (i) w.r.t t E = applied electric field in V/m
m = mass of electron
x = distance in the direction of motion.
Equation (ii) is the equation of velocity of electrons, hence constant, C has dimension of velocity, and
can only be random velocity of electron which it had at the initial stage when no field was applied.
Hence,
Classical free electron theory of metals:
However, this random velocity 𝑣𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑚 averages out to zero, thus the average velocity of the electrons
can be written as
The above equation indicates that the velocity keeps on increasing indefinitely with time, however
this is not possible. The electrons do not move freely in the lattice, rather they collide with the ions
present in the lattice structure, and loose their velocity and again gets accelerated and again collides
and so on.
Hence seeing the average effect we consider that on an average the time between two collisions is T,
known as the relaxation time or collision time and the average velocity attained by electrons in T time
period is known as drift velocity.
If the number of free electrons per unit volume is 𝑛, then the amount of charge passing through a cross section
𝐴 in time 𝑑𝑡 will be given by
Hence the current flowing will be given by,
Classical free electron theory of metals:
And hence the current density will be,
Substituting the value of drift velocity, 𝑣𝑑 from equations (iv) in (v),
Equation (vi) is nothing but the Ohm’s Law itself, where,
The Drude free electron theory successfully explains the room temperature resistivity of metals but the
temperature dependence resistivity of metals could not be explained. It also fails to explain specific heat
capacity of solids and why some solids are insulator and some are semiconductors and some are conductors.
