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Physicsissuef
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Do in conductor (like Cu wire) have electron holes, like there is in the semi-conductors?
Ben Niehoff said:It depends on the conductor, but in metal conductors, it is generally the electrons that are free to move.
You can experimentally determine whether the charge carriers are positive or negative by means of the Hall effect.
chroot said:An ionized metal atom is a "hole" just like an ionized semiconductor atom, but the energies involved are much, much smaller, and therefore pretty much negligible.
A hole in a semiconductor requires an electron to be promoted across a band gap -- from the valence band to the conduction band -- and these band-gap energies are pretty large. In contrast, some electrons are always in the valence band in metals, so they're always free to move around. There's no band gap to overcome, and thus no large energies involved.
- Warren
Ben Niehoff said:He's conflating the terms "band gap" and "hole", is all, Chroot.
But there will be many more holes in the conductors, and not in pure semi-conductors, let's say like sillica, right?chroot said:I believe I've already answered this.
The concept of a "hole" in a semiconductor is the ion left behind when you promote an electron through the (fairly large) gap between the valence and conduction bands, and the electron moves away. This promotion requires a good bit of energy. The same amount of energy is released when another electron drops back out of the conduction band and fills the hole. (This is called recombination.)
In metals, there is no band gap, and some electrons are perpetually in the conduction band. No promotion is necessary. It still requires some tiny amount of energy to ionize a metal atom, but the energy is so small that it is negligible. Thus, the concept of a "hole" is not very useful for metals.
- Warren
Physicsissuef said:But there will be many more holes in the conductors, and not in pure semi-conductors, let's say like sillica, right?
Also I have one more question. When the electrons get away from the orbital while there is current, they jump from orbital to orbital, or they move in the space, not in the orbitals?
chroot said:I don't know what you mean. As I've said repeatedly, the concept of a "hole" does not really apply to metals.
I have no idea what you're asking here either. Orbitals do not have sharp boundaries, and can overlap even over a distance.
- Warren
Physicsissuef said:I want to ask you what happens when there is current. The electrons jump from orbital to their neighbor's atoms orbital, or?
Physicsissuef said:I want to ask you what happens when there is current. The electrons jump from orbital to their neighbor's atoms orbital, or?
ZapperZ said:There are no more "orbitals" here. The conduction electrons are not localized to any atom.
Electron holes are the absence of an electron in the valence band of a conductor, creating a positive charge that can move through the material like a positively charged particle.
Electron holes play a crucial role in the conductivity of a material. As electrons move through a conductor, they leave behind electron holes that can attract and conduct other electrons, allowing for the flow of electrical current.
No, electron holes can also exist in semiconductors and insulators. However, they are more significant in conductors due to the abundance of free electrons available for movement.
Yes, electron holes can be filled when an electron from a neighboring atom moves into the hole. This movement of electrons is what allows for the flow of electricity in a conductor.
Electron holes are created when electrons are excited and move from the valence band to the conduction band, leaving a gap (hole) in the valence band. This can happen through the application of an electric field or thermal energy.