Mott problem

Imagine you have a big bag of candy and you want to give some to your friends. But, you only want to give candy to your friends who know how to share and not hog all the candy to themselves.

The Mott problem is kind of like this. In some materials, electrons act like the candy. They move around and share with each other. But, in some materials, the electrons get selfish and don't want to share, so they get stuck and can't move. This makes it hard for electricity to flow through the material, which is a problem if you want to make electronic devices like phones and computers.

Scientists study the Mott problem so they can understand why electrons act this way in some materials and how they can make materials with better electrical properties that will allow them to create faster and more efficient electronic devices.