Science · 6 pages · 12 min
Why metals conduct electricity
Some electrons in a metal are shared and free to drift when a field is applied.
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From the opening
Metals conduct electricity because some of their electrons are not bound to one atom but are shared across the solid. An electric field drifts that shared population through the lattice, and the drift is the current. The opening covers electrons shared across the lattice, a drift, not an empty pipe, and why hotter metal usually resists more.
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Inside
- Electrons shared across the lattice
- A drift, not an empty pipe
- Why hotter metal usually resists more
- Superconductivity as a different state
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- The free-electron picture of metals
- Electrical resistance from scattering in the lattice