The conduction electrons in a metal behave like an ideal gas if the temperature is high enough. In particular, the temperature must be such that , the Fermi energy. We have to find the temperatures that are required for copper to satisfy this requirement. We have to compare our answer with the boiling point of copper, which is . We may note that as the electron gas in metallic copper is not an ideal gas but a degenerate Fermi gas.

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The Fermi temperature of copper, . We calculate the temperature such that

We find

.

Therefore, the temperatures at which the conduction electrons in copper will behave like an ideal gas is that

.

As the boiling point of copper is , at temperatures less than the boiling point of copper the conduction electrons are a degenerate Fermi-Dirac gas.