The Fermi energy is a concept in quantum mechanics usually referring to the energy of the highest occupied quantum state in a system of fermions at absolute zero temperature.
Confusingly, the term "Fermi energy" is often used to describe a different but closely related concept, the Fermi level (also called chemical potential). The Fermi energy and Fermi level are the same at absolute zero, but differ at other temperatures, as described below.
Read more about Fermi Energy: Illustration of The Concept For A One Dimensional Square Well, Three-dimensional Case, Related Quantities
Famous quotes containing the word energy:
“I rather think the cinema will die. Look at the energy being exerted to revive it—yesterday it was color, today three dimensions. I don’t give it forty years more. Witness the decline of conversation. Only the Irish have remained incomparable conversationalists, maybe because technical progress has passed them by.”
—Orson Welles (1915–1984)