The Electrical and Thermal Conductivities of Monovalent Metals

Abstract

The experimentally determined values of the high and low temperature electrical and thermal conductivities of pure sodium, copper, silver, and gold are such that the ratios of these quantities for each of these metals do not agree with the values expected from the Bloch free electron theory, except for the high temperature Wiedemann-Franz ratio. Reasonable agreement can be achieved by assuming (i) that the conduction electrons can interact directly with transverse lattice vibrations, and (ii) that the Fermi surface departs significantly from spherical shape in all these metals, and touches the boundary of the Brillouin zone in the case of copper, silver, and gold.