copper

What: "But Cu2 is unstable because the bonding is too weak. Instead, the atoms associate into metal. But there's no directionality to their bonding and the bonds are very weak, lacking covalent character. In a sense, copper is like frozen mercury. This means that copper should easily deform--and so it does." A discussion of how the 29 electrons of copper affects its material properties.

Writer: El Pollo Raylan

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Date: Jun 4 2013 11:31 AM

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"If circuits are like plumbing, then none of the "pipes" of a circuit are ever empty. This idea is extremely important, and without it we cannot understand semiconductors ...or even conductors! Metals contain a vast quantity of movable electrons which forms a sort of "electric fluid" within the metal. A simple hunk of copper is like a water tank! Physicists call this fluid by the name "electron sea of metals," or "the ocean of charge." Semiconductors are always full of this movable "charge-stuff." The movable charge is in there even when a transistor is sitting on the shelf and disconnected from everything"

Writer: William Beaty, BSEE

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Date: Mar 4 2014 1:55 PM