Conduction of Electricity in Metals
- A conductor conducts electricity due to the movement of electrons or ions.
- Metals conduct electricity both in solid state as well as molten state.
- The conductivity of metals depends upon the number of valence electrons available per atom.
- The atomic orbitals of metal atoms form molecular orbitals that are close in energy to each other as to form a band.
- Partial filling or overlapping with a higher energy unoccupied conduction band enables the electrons to flow easily under an applied electric field.
- This results in conductivity of metals.
If the gap between valence band and the conduction band is large, electrons cannot jump to it and such a substance has very low conductivity that makes it behave like an insulator
