Fermi Level
According to the Pauli principle, the electrons in the ground state occupy all the lowest-energy states, up to some Fermi energy . Since the energy is given by
- ,
this corresponds to occupying all the states with wave vectors, where is so-called Fermi wave vector, given by
- ,
where is the total number of electrons in the system, and V is the total volume. The Fermi energy is then
In a nearly-free-electron model of a -valent metal, one can replace with, where is the total number of metal ions.
Read more about this topic: Free Electron Model
Famous quotes containing the word level:
“As the tragic writer rids us of what is petty and ignoble in our nature, so also the humorist rids us of what is cautious, calculating, and priggish—about half of our social conscience, indeed. Both of them permit us, in blessed moments of revelation, to soar above the common level of our lives.”
—Robertson Davies (b. 1913)