ABSTRACT
In this chapter we bring together the basic concepts discussed in earlier cha¬pters to provide a broad description of the electronic properties of metals. The main idea is that metals have some electrons which occupy the higher-energy ‘free’ electron levels, and can therefore migrate throughout the material. These are the so-called conduction electrons which contribute to both electrical and thermal conduction. These electrons also enable us to explain the optical pro-perties of metals, in particular the high reflectance of metals in the visual range of the spectrum. Since it is the electrons which are close to the upper surface of the electron ‘sea’ which are most important in defining the electronic properties, we look at this ‘Fermi surface’ in greater detail here and discuss some of the methods of representing this important electronic characteristic of a metal.
