Metals Obey the Rules of Quantum Statistics

Abstract

The classical Drude-Lorentz model could explain some aspects of the electronic properties of metals such as the Wiedemann-Franz law. However, quantum statistics and the Fermi distribution of the electron energies turned into the key for the electronic theory of metals, including the important concept of the Fermi surface in momentum space. Over a wide temperature range the electronic transport properties of metals are dominated by the interaction between electrons and phonons (Bloch-Grüneisen law). Thermoelectricity (Peltier and Seebeck effect) is discussed briefly.