Thermopower of the alkali metals at high temperatures

An empirical calculation is presented of the thermopower of the alkali metals at the melting temp. for both the liquid phase and the solid phase. The over-all agreement between the calculated and the measured values is very good. The first-principles Shukla -- Taylor form factor is used for Na and potassium and an empirical form factor is used for Li, Rb and Cs. The energy dependence of the form factor, required for the calculation of the thermopower, is obtained directly from the form factor itself by means of an approximate procedure based on a phase-shift expansion. The approximation is shown to be reliable. The structure factor was obtained for both the solid and the liquid phases by means of a scaling procedure. The scaling procedure is shown to be reliable. Finally, a qualitative discussion is presented of various aspects of the thermopower calculation.43 refs.--AA