Chapter 3 Electricity

40
3.2. TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE OF ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY
OF METALS

1. THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Free electron model assumes that the valence electrons of metals are gathered
and behave like a perfect gas. The electrons in the absence of any electric or magnetic
field are moving chaotically. In the presence of a constant electric field there is a
movement component of all electrons oriented in the field direction and overlapping
the chaotic thermal movement. In their movement the electrons collide with the
impurities, defects or phonons. According to the classical model (Drude theory)
electrical conductivity can be written as:
2
*
1 ne
ne
m

= = = , (1)
where n is the concentration, m* is the effective mass of the electron, is the
relaxation time (the time between two consecutive interactions), e is the elementary
charge of the electron, is the electron mobility and is the resistivity:
RS
l
= (2)
R is the resistance of the conductor, l is the conductor length and S is the section. For
metals, the electrons concentration remains unchanged with the temperature increase,
the increase in the resistivity being due to a decrease of the electrons mobility as a
result of increased spread of the electrons by the phonons (a phonon is a quantized
mode of vibration occurring in a rigid crystal lattice, such as the atomic lattice of a
solid). For a metal containing impurities atoms the resistivity equals:
t i
= + , (3)
where
t
is the resistivity due to thermal movement and
i
is caused by the spread on
the impurities atoms. At 0 K the so called residual resistance equals
i
for metals and
alloys that are not superconductors.
i
is not dependent upon the temperature and it is
10
5
10
6
times higher then at 20
o
C depending only on the metal purity.
Phonons contribute to the resistivity depending on the temperature. In ordinary
metals
t
is proportional to the temperature except the lower temperatures region. At
high temperatures depends upon T due to the fact that the spreading probability is
proportional to the number of phonons.
In the high temperatures region the resistivity variation is:
0
T A o A = (4)
Chapter 3 Electricity
41

or:
( )
0 0 0
1 t t o o = + = + (5)
Let's define the medium thermal coefficient of the resistivity:
0
0 0 0
1 1
T T T
A
o
A

= =

(6)
with T
0
= 273.15 K and
0
is the resistivity at 0
o
C.

2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
A sketch of the experimental setup is presented in fig. 1. The resistance is
measured using the Wheatstone bridge having the resistances ratio a/b = 1/1000.
Fig. 1. Experimental setup

The temperature will be measured in the range 2060
o
C using a thermometer. The
geometrical parameters of the wire used are length l = 10 m and diameter d = 0.5 mm.

3. DIRECTIONS
(a) establish the working mode of the Wheatstone bridge;
(b) turn on the heating plate and monitor the temperature rise as well as the
resistance increase;
(c) determine the resistivity using relation (2);
(d) using the relation
1
o

= determine the conductivity for the temperature values

read with the thermometer;
(e) calculate the mobility
n e

. For cooper n = 8.5x10

28
atoms/m
3
;
(f) graphically represent = (t) and = (t);
G
- +
R
x
Wheatstone
Bridge
Heating plate
T
G
- +
R
x
Wheatstone
Bridge
Heating plate
T
Chapter 3 Electricity
42

(g) from the graph = (t) determine the medium thermal coefficient of the
cooper resistivity o (through the least squares method) and the resistivity at 0
o
C (by
extrapolation);
(h) from the graph = (t) by extrapolation determine the mobility at 0
o
C;
(i) determine the relaxation time
m
e

= .

4. EXPERIMENTAL DATA TABLE

t R o o
0

0

No.
o
C O Om (Om)
-1

2
m
Vs
s
m
s
O
Om
2
m
Vs