Past exam of the chemistry A course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / Paper 2 / A9 / c

The Fermi sphere volume in reciprocal space isThe primitive real-space cell has volume $a^3/2$, so the first Brillouin zone has volumeEach band accommodates two electrons per primitive cell when spin is counted. Six electrons therefore require three such zone-volumes of occupied reciprocal-space states in the free-electron counting picture. The extended-zone sphere is not confined to the first zone; folding it produces multiple bands. It does not imply that the actual tungsten Fermi surface is spherical.