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Copper  | | Photograph courtesy of Mineralite |
Copper is a orange/reddish coloured metal which is malleable and ductile. It has excellent thermal and electrical conductivities and good corrosion resistance. It is found in sulphide ores and as carbonate, arsenide and chloride. Extraction of the metal involves roasting the ore to produce the oxide, followed by reduction and purification by electrolysis. The element is inert to non-oxidising acids but reacts with oxidising agents. In air, it will weather to produce the characteristic green patina of the carbonate. Copper will combine with oxygen on heating to produce CuO at red heat, and Cu2O at elevated temperatures. Pure copper has an electrical conductivity second only to that of silver and hence its main application is in the electrical industry. Copper is also the basis of many important alloys (brass, bronze and aluminium bronze) and has been traditionally considered to be one of the coinage metals, along with silver and gold, but being more common, is the least valued.
- Symbol
- Cu
- Discovered
- It is one of the first metals ever to have been worked by man and is thought to have been mined for more than 5000 years. 1500BC copper is smelted in China.
- Abundance
- 50 ppm in the Earth’s crust.
Click on an item to paste into clipboard or use clipboard symbol at end to clipboard all values | Atomic number | 29 | | Clip | | Atomic / Molecular Weight | 63.546 | gmol-1 | Clip | | Density | 8933 | kgm-3 | Clip | | Crystal Structure | fcc | | Clip | | Lattice constant | 361 | fm | Clip | | Melting Point | 1358.04 | K | Clip | | Boiling Point | 2863 | K | Clip | | Tensile strength | 1.2e8 to 4.0e8 | Nm-2 | Clip | | Youngs modulus | 110E+09 to 120E+09 | Nm-2 | Clip | | Poissons ratio | 0.33 to 0.36 | | Clip | | Linear expansivity | 0.0000165 | K-1 | Clip | | Specific heat capacity | 385 | Jkg-1K-1 | Clip | | Thermal conductivity | 385 to 403 | Wm-1K-1 | Clip | | Acoustic wave velocity (longitudinal bulk waves) | 4759 | ms-1 | Clip | | Acoustic wave velocity (Irrotational waves) | 3813 | ms-1 | Clip | | Acoustic wave velocity (Shear waves) | 2325 | ms-1 | Clip | | Acoustic wave velocity (Rayleigh waves) | 2171 | ms-1 | Clip | | Bulk Modulus of Rigidity | 137800000000 | Nm-2 | Clip | | Electromotive Series | -0.47 | V | Clip |
 paste all data into clipboard See also: Beryllium Copper, Brass, Bronze, Copper I Bromide, Copper I Chloride, Copper I Iodide, Copper I Oxide, Copper I Sulphide, Copper II Bromide, Copper II Carbonate, Copper II Hydroxide, Copper II Oxide, Copper II Sulphide, Copper Sulphate, Nickel Brass, Nonferrous, Patina, Periodic Table, Verdigris.
  
Weblinks:- Copper.org Copper Development Association for the copper and brass industries in the USA.
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