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Presumably, as they don’t, it must be that the electron sea in the conduction band nevertheless has an individual atomic energy level for each and every “loose” electron. QM informs that in such a case, irrespective of the considerable amount of acceleration and deceleration that each and every conduction electron experiences, just like their sisters close to the atomic nucleus Nature stops them radiating. Is this the case?

adlibber
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1 Answers1

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The premise of this question is wrong. They do radiate. This is thermal radiation.

The thermal radiation of a metal can be difficult to image as they are not usually (at room temperature) closely approximated as a black body. They tend to have high reflectivity due to their conduction electrons.

However, at higher temperatures this radiation becomes more apparent and is useful in the manufacture of high quality metal parts.

from https://www.williamsonir.com/blog/the-best-way-to-measure-the-surface-temperature-of-a-metal/

Dale
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    Many thanks, Dale for an excellent answer. Of course the conduction electrons have their kinetic energy obtained through ambient heat to radiate away in the same way that lattice heat-induced vibrational energy will give rise to radiant energy. With no ambient heat there would be no random movement and no collisions and no radiation. So obvious when you have a bright answer! – adlibber Dec 31 '22 at 13:39
  • @adlibber Even at absolute zero (if they could get there) electrons would still be 'moving', or rather, they have zero point energy. – Name Namerson Jan 16 '23 at 16:11