Question

In diamond, carbon’s four full (bonding) s and p spatial states become a band and the four empty(anti bonding) ones becomes a higher energy band. Considering the trend in the band gaps of diamond, silicon, and germanium, explain why it might not be surprising that “covalent” tin behaves as a conducting metallic solid.

Short answer

The number of electrons are large in the conduction band and it makes the time behaves like metallic solid.

Step-by-step solution

Determine the formulas

Consider the formula for the energy of the electron as:

$\mathbf{E}\mathbf{=}\frac{\mathrm{hc}}{\lambda }$

Here,$\lambda$ is the wavelength, h is the plank’s constant, and c is the speed of light.

Determine the answer for the question:

Consider the energy gap of the diamond is 5.4 eV and the energy gap of the silicon is 1.1 eV and 0.7 eV in the germanium. In the same way the energy gap of the covalent tin is small and same is at the room temperature. Thus, the number of electrons are large in the conduction band and it makes the time behaves like metallic solid.