Electrons In Metals Lab Report

Electrons in Metals

Fallyn Walker 14423422

An electron is a negatively charged, sub atomic particle. It is a fermion, a particle named after the Fermi-Dirac statistics, which describes the electrons behaviour . Bohr proposed that the electron could move from orbitals. This could explain the spectrum for hydrogen but failed for other elements. The electron has a half integer spin, which leads to intrinsic angular momentum, a feature that all fermions possess. Pauli’s Exclusion principle states that two electrons cannot occupy the same time. An electron behaves as both a wave and a particle, as it can be diffracted but it will also collide with other particles. This is a Quantum mechanics property called Wave Particle Duality. The spin is

Young’s double slit experiment shows how an electron behaves as a particle and as a wave. The experiment shows that if one slit is open you get a pattern as you would with any particles. When repeated with the second slit open you get the same pattern corresponding to that slit, with an interference pattern in the centre. When both slits are open you get a completely different interference pattern, one that has similar properties to waves such as light. This then shows how electrons can behave as particles and also as waves. Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle states that it is impossible to measure at the same time both the position and velocity of an electron, which was also shown in variations of this experiment by adding a light source to flash when an electron passed

These outer orbital electrons are in a high energy state, making it easy for metallic bonding to occur. They are usually made of closely packed atoms, which mean the outer electron of each atom can overlap with surrounding atoms. This means the electron can move from one atom to another, as neither atom have a full outer shell. These electrons are referred to as delocalized, or free, electrons due to their ability to move freely between atoms. The atom that the electron leaves becomes a positive ion , embedded in a sea of delocalized electrons. The interaction between the delocalized electrons and the positive ion create the force that binds and holds the metallic structure. The more electrons in the outer shell to become delocalized means the more positive ions there will be. The metallic bond and delocalized electrons within a metal are normally the cause of the properties the metal