Past exam of the physics A course of the University of Cambridge 2017 Paper 2 Section A 5 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
For fixed electron number , the specified electron degeneracy pressure scales as . Differentiating at fixed low temperature gives the degeneracy-pressure bulk modulus,A monovalent sample has one conduction electron per atom. Its carrier density isusing the Avogadro constant . Substitution with reduced Planck constant and electron mass givesEquivalently, and for this free electron model. This is the assumed electronic contribution, not a calculation of the complete equation of state of real potassium: ionic cohesion and interaction corrections have been excluded as instructed. The supplied pressure is the zero-temperature form, appropriate to leading order for .