Ĭopper just above its melting point keeps its pink luster color when enough light outshines the orange incandescence colorĬopper, silver, and gold are in group 11 of the periodic table these three metals have one s-orbital electron on top of a filled d- electron shell and are characterized by high ductility, and electrical and thermal conductivity. The adult body contains between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight. In humans, copper is found mainly in the liver, muscle, and bone. In molluscs and crustaceans, copper is a constituent of the blood pigment hemocyanin, replaced by the iron-complexed hemoglobin in fish and other vertebrates. Copper compounds are used as bacteriostatic agents, fungicides, and wood preservatives.Ĭopper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary mineral because it is a key constituent of the respiratory enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase.
Copper is sometimes used in decorative art, both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Ĭommonly encountered compounds are copper(II) salts, which often impart blue or green colors to such minerals as azurite, malachite, and turquoise, and have been used widely and historically as pigments.Ĭopper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form a green patina of compounds called verdigris. Coper ( Old English) and copper were derived from this, the later spelling first used around 1530. In the Roman era, copper was mined principally on Cyprus, the origin of the name of the metal, from aes cyprium (metal of Cyprus), later corrupted to cuprum (Latin). 4000 BC and the first metal to be purposely alloyed with another metal, tin, to create bronze, c. Thousands of years later, it was the first metal to be smelted from sulfide ores, circa 5000 BC the first metal to be cast into a shape in a mold, c.
This led to very early human use in several regions, from circa 8000 BC. Copper is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and as a constituent of various metal alloys, such as sterling silver used in jewelry, cupronickel used to make marine hardware and coins, and constantan used in strain gauges and thermocouples for temperature measurement.Ĭopper is one of the few metals that can occur in nature in a directly usable metallic form ( native metals). A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orange color. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29.
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