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Contact potentials



I recall that one of Kittel's solid state books has a good treatment of this
phenomenon under the topic of chemical potenials.

This is also the effect by which a metal placed in an electrolyte will
develop a negative charge, as the metal atoms go into solution as ions (ie,
leaving an electron behind).

This is the mechanism behind the electric cell and occurs not because of
Maxwellian electrodynamics, but in spite of it. (There is no curly E field
or qVxB force in the typical electric cell.)

Understanding of this phenomenon is not to be found in E&M books but in
QM/Solid State books.

Bob


Bob Sciamanda (W3NLV)
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (em)
trebor@velocity.net
www.velocity.net/~trebor