Table Of ContentELECTRICAL RESISTANCE
OF METALS
THE INTERNATIONAL CRYOGENICS MONOGRAPH SERIES
General Editors
Dr. K. Mendelssohn, F. R. S. Dr. K. D. Timmerhaus
The Clarendon Laboratory University of Colorado
Oxford, England Bou/der, Colorado
H. J. Goldsmid Thermoelectric Refrigeration, 1964
G. T. Meaden Electrica! Resistance of M etals, 1965
Volumes in preparation
D. H. Parkinson and B. Mulhall Very High Magnetic Fields
J. L. Olsen and S. Gygax Superconductivity for Engineers
A. J. Croft and P. V. E. McClintock Cryogenic Laboratory Equipment
G. K. Gaule Superconductivity in Elements,
Alloys, and Compounds
E. S. Raja Gopal Specific Heats at Low Temperatures
M. G. Zabetakis Cryogenic Safety
F. B. Canfield Low-Temperature Phase Equilibria
W. E. Keller Helium-3 and Helium-4
S. Ramaseshan Low-Temperature Crystallography
P. Glaser and A. Wechsler Cryogenic Insulation Systems
ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE
OF METALS
George Terence Meaden
M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon), A.Inst.P., F.R.Met.S.
Centre de Recherches sur les Tres Basses Temperatures
F aculte des Sciences
Universite de Grenoble
France
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC 1965
ISBN 978-1-4899-5719-1 ISBN 978-1-4899-5717-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-5717-7
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 64-23243
©1965 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Originally published by Plenum Press in 1965
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1965
All rights reserved
This book is dedicated
affectionately
to my parents
Preface
This book has been written chiefly in mind of the needs of
scientists and engineers who require a full and current presentation
of the experimental facts together with a relatively concise account
of the modern theory of the electrical resistance of metals and alloys.
While all the essential groundwork on the behavior of the resistance
of metals has been covered in this treatment, no pretense is made that
any part of the theory is exhaustively covered; resistance measure
ments on metals embrace many broad fields and fringe on so many
others that without much difficulty all the chapters of the present book
could easily have been expanded into extensive volumes in their own
right. In particular, to those reviewers who may claim that Chapters 5
and 6 are perhaps too condensed, I say at once that whole books,
fine review articles, and conference proceedings already exist on such
subjects as imperfections in metals, magnetic-field and pressure
effects, and the irradiation damage of metals. Also, the section on
superconductivity has been deliberately kept short because a com
panion monograph on this topic is presently being prepared by Dr.
Gygax and Professor Olsen.
In brief, this book may be said to be an introduction to the
subject of electrical resistance in metals that can be understood by
anyone with a university science degree who has made some study of
solid state and atomic physics, and can be used by anyone who seeks
to obtain experimental resistivity data tabulated herein on the pure
metals or who desires to make resistivity measurements for himself.
One especial aim has been to scour thoroughly all results pub
lished in the literature on the electrical resistivity of the metallic
elements up to room temperature, to review the most interesting and
relevant of the data, and to tabulate systematically the best and most
accurate of the data. In following the good example set by White
and Woods,MlO Dugdale and Gugan,l37,139,141 and regrettably very
few others in their clear data tabulation of resistivity results, it is
hoped that we shall have played a small part in establishing more
uniformity in the future publication of data. Too often in the past
vii
viii Preface
the results of precise and productive experimental work have been
published most unsatisfactorily in the inadequate form of one or two
small-scale graphs without inclusion of any tables of actual figures.
Next, because this book has been written for a series of mono
graphs on cryogenics, consideration has mostly been given to effects
and results pertaining to low and ordinary temperatures-only with
respect to theory has the discussion reached into the realms of higher
temperatures. Indeed, on account of the cryogenic aspect and because
this is essentially a practical book, we have even digressed slightly
from the main theme on a few occasions to include some related
issues of interest to low-temperature research and development
workers. For example, there are sections on low-temperature thermo
couples, semiconductor resistance thermometers, and calibration
procedures.
I now wish to record my thanks to Dr. R. H. Romer, Associate
Professor of Physics at Amherst College, Massachusetts, for reading
and criticizing helpfully a number of the chapters, and to others of
my colleagues for discussions of several points. I am also grateful to
Prof. L. Weil, Centre de Recherches sur les Tn!s Basses Temperatures,
Universite de Grenoble, who provided various laboratory facilities
that made my work of writing this book while in France rather easier,
and to Dr. K. Mendelssohn, F.R.S., whose unrelenting enthusiasm
has stimulated and developed my love for low-temperature physics.
Finally, my thanks are due to Drs. J. S. Dugdale (National Research
Council, Ottawa), R. W. Powell (National Physical Laboratory,
Teddington), and R. Reich (Centre National de la Recherche Scien
tifique, Vitry-sur-Seine) for correspondence and for supplying me
with unpublished material, and to Mlle Anne Jacqueline Cheyroux
for typing my final manuscript d'une maniere si impeccable.
Parana Lodge G. T. MEADEN
Victoria Road
Trowbridge, England
Apri/1965
Acknowledgments
The author acknowledges the permission granted by the following
publishers and societies to make use of figures that have appeared in
their publications: Academic Press, Inc. (Solid State Physics Series),
American Institute of Physics (Physics Review, Physics Review Letters,
Review of Scientific Instruments, Soviet Physics JETP), Johann
Ambrosius Barth Verlag (Annalen der Physik, Handbuch der Experi
mentalphysik), Elsevier Publishing Co. (Journal of the Less-Common
Metals), Heywood and Co., Ltd. (Cryogenics), Interscience Pub
lishers, Inc. (Journal de Physique), National Research Council (Canadian
Journal of Physics), North-Holland Publishing Co. (Physics Letters),
Oxford University Press, Pergamon Press, Ltd. (Progress in Nuclear
Energy), Physica Foundation (Physica), Physical Society of Japan,
The Royal Society (Proceedings and Philosophical Transactions),
Springer-Verlag (Handbuch der Physik), and Taylor and Francis, Ltd.
(Philosophical Magazine).
ix
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IX
List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Chapter 1 The Meaning of Electrical Resistance
and Its Importance
1.1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2. The Metals of the Periodic System . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3. Ohm's Law, Electrical Resistance, and
Electrical Resistivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4. Impurity Resistivity, Ideal Resistivity,
and Matthiessen's Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5. Resistivity in Anisotropic Metals. . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 2 Experimental Data on the Resistivity of Metals
2.1. Arrangement of Material. ................. 12
2.2. The Alkalis (Group IA Metals-Li, Na, K,
Rb, Cs, Fr) ......................... 14
2.3. The Noble Metals (Group IB Metals-
Cu. Ag, Au) ......................... 22
2.4. Group IIA or Alkaline-Earth Metals
(Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5. Group liB Metals (Zn, Cd, Hg) . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.6. Group IIIB Metals (AI, Ga, In, Tl). . . . . . . . . 26
2.7. Group IVB Metals (Sn, Ph) ............... 28
2.8. Group VB Metals (As, Sb, Bi) . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.9. Group VIB Metal (Po) ................... 29
2.10. The Transition Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.11. Group IliA Metals (Sc, Y) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
xi
