Properties Of Copper

Undoubtedly, copper is one of the most used metals since it has got so many usages. If you think about it, you will find at least 10 objects made out of copper which you cannot do without. For example, those could be the copper large baking tin, the copper pan, saucepan, the conductors and wires used for the electricity transportation…the list is really endless. Although it has so many usages, most of the people do not know anything about the properties of copper. If you are one of these people also, do not hesitate to read this article to the end because it will give you very interesting information which is really a must to know.

But when talking about the properties of copper, there are some more details to be given in the beginning. For example, you should know that the chemical element’s atomic number is 29 and its atomic weight is around 65. By the way, that makes it one of the lightest metals in the Mendeleyev Table. But that is not all- the metal’s atomic number in the Table gives much more information than you probably can imagine. Being 29th in the Table, an atom of Copper (Cuprum, Cu) has 29 protons and 29 electrons. There number of neutrons is undefined since the copper has 5 isotopes (that the atom can have 5 different numbers of neutrons, depending on the isotope).

And when talking about the properties of copper, the temperature of melting and boiling just could not remain unmentioned. As most of the other metals, copper melts and boils at quite high temperatures, especially when compared to some other chemical elements boiling at temperatures like -300 degrees centigrade. If you do not believe it, check out the temperatures for copper- melting at nearly 1200 degrees centigrade and boiling at nearly 3000 degrees centigrade.

However, the high temperatures needed for melting the solid Cuprum is not amongst the most valued properties of copper. In fact, it is one of the least convenient to us because of the energy and time which need to be spent for turning the solid Cuprum into liquid and make that liquid boil (although that is really needed). Talking about really valued properties of copper involves mentioning the conduction. Silver is the only better conductor but as you know it is too expensive and could not be used for that purpose. So it should not be surprising that all of the conductors (the wires hanging from between the posts, providing our homes with electricity) are made exactly of copper.

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