dc transport in metals

Ten years of evidence is summarized which supports and clarifies a simple scheme for analyzing dc resistivity of complex metals, namely, extraction of ${\left(\frac{n}{m}\right)}_{\mathrm{eff}}$ from band theory and estimation of the electron-phonon scattering rate $\frac{1}{{\tau }_{e-\mathrm{ph}}}$ from the superconducting transition temperature. The accuracy of this procedure has now been tested by detailed microscopic calculations for Cu, Nb, Ta, and Pd.