Carriers in Ag. Are these excited conduction electrons?
I am attempting to solve a question which asks the carriers in Ag.
Is the use of the word 'Carriers' simply another way of saying excited conduction electrons?
Thank you.
Is the use of the word 'Carriers' simply another way of saying excited conduction electrons?
Thank you.
Original post by little pixie
I am attempting to solve a question which asks the carriers in Ag.
Is the use of the word 'Carriers' simply another way of saying excited conduction electrons?
Thank you.
Is the use of the word 'Carriers' simply another way of saying excited conduction electrons?
Thank you.
Conduction electrons yes, not necessarily 'excited' though. You need to be clear on the differences between insulators, conductors and semi-conductors.
You know that:
Electrons are negative charge force carriers.
Conduction is the movement of charge (electrons).
'Excited' implies that electrons have gained enough energy from an external source to jump to a higher orbital around the nucleus. e.g. This can be between any permitted band and also from the valence energy band to the conduction band. But this definition is reserved for insulators and semi-conductors.
With conducting elements such as silver, the conduction and valence permissible energy bands overlap. The conduction electrons already co-exist at the same energy levels with valence electrons and so can be coerced to migration (current) with very little effort. i.e. the electrons do not need any external excitation energy to jump form the valence to conduction band.
Not so for insulators where valence band electrons must overcome the significant 'forbidden' energy gap between the valence and conduction bands. i.e. the electrons must be 'excited' to exist in the conduction band.
Semi-conductors are between the two where the band-gap between valence and conduction bands is much smaller and almost overlap.
(edited 9 years ago)
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