Copper Definition and 512 Threads

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orange color. 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.
Copper is one of the few metals that can occur in nature in a directly usable metallic form (native metals). This led to very early human use in several regions, from c. 8000 BC. Thousands of years later, it was the first metal to be smelted from sulfide ores, c. 5000 BC; the first metal to be cast into a shape in a mold, c. 4000 BC; and the first metal to be purposely alloyed with another metal, tin, to create bronze, c. 3500 BC.In the Roman era, copper was mined principally on Cyprus, the origin of the name of the metal, from aes сyprium (metal of Cyprus), later corrupted to сuprum (Latin). Coper (Old English) and copper were derived from this, the later spelling first used around 1530.Commonly 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.
Copper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form a green verdigris (or patina). Copper is sometimes used in decorative art, both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Copper compounds are used as bacteriostatic agents, fungicides, and wood preservatives.
Copper 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. In molluscs and crustaceans, copper is a constituent of the blood pigment hemocyanin, replaced by the iron-complexed hemoglobin in fish and other vertebrates. In humans, copper is found mainly in the liver, muscle, and bone. The adult body contains between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight.

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  1. Skyland

    The Possibility of Value in Amalgam Alloys of Gold, Copper and Silver

    Would using mercury to form amalgam alloys combining gold, copper, and silver have any electronic value? Has this amalgam ever been made and tested in conductivity and Malleability? Or would it just be an expensive filling?
  2. L

    I Optimal Copper Pipe Size for Misting System

    I am attaching a standard 5/8" garden hose with approximately 70psi pressure to a copper pipe that is capped on the opposite end with mist nozzles mounted periodically along its length. I want the pressure at each mister to be as similar as possible. The hose attaches at the base, a solid line...
  3. A

    Andrew's Senior Project: Copper Sulfate & Plant Development

    Hello, I'm Andrew and I'm in 12th grade. If you are interested, I would like to share a presentation showing the process, observations, results of an experiment showing the physical effects copper sulfate can have on early plant development. I, with much help from some intelligent members of...
  4. PaxFinnica96

    Calculating the Gauge of a Copper Wire for a Thermometer Bridge Circuit

    Hi All, Really struggling to get my head around what I'm doing wrong - every time my answer of wire diameter comes out too small for what's included in the table of SWG. I must be doing something wrong somewhere - my attempt is below. Any help is very much appreciated.
  5. C

    Aluminum and copper -- Galvanic corrosion

    If a copper water pipe is connected to a piece of aluminum through a copper wire, where will the galvanic corrosion take place? On the wire to aluminum joint eating away at the aluminum, or will the whole water pipe suffer? (does copper corrode aluminum, or vice versa, or each other?) thanks
  6. A

    Help with an Experiment Concerning a Copper Sulfate

    Hi, I'm in 12th grade and for my senior project I am doing an observation on the effects copper would have on plant growth. I have used copper sulfate to create increasing concentrations of copper in which I used to water my test plants. After further research of lately, I found that copper...
  7. AnkitM

    Electrical Build an electromagnet which can lift up to 3 kg from 26 gauge copper wire

    Hey guys I want to build electromagnet which can lift up to 3 kg from 26 gauge copper wire, 12V battery (bike), so how many turns should I do and what will be length and radius of the solenoid?
  8. P

    Missing eddy currents in copper?

    I have a set of little flywheels that have a magnet to break the motion of the system. I have one aluminum and several copper ones all water jet cut roughly to size. The copper and aluminum disks I have are all the same dimensions but bought from three different sources. Yesterday I machined the...
  9. A

    Help with Copper and Zinc's Effects on a Plant Experiment

    Hi, I'm in 12th grade and for my senior project I wanted to do an experiment on the effects that copper and zinc have on mung beans. I have copper sulfate pentahyde and zinc sulfate monohydrate, which I had purchased because I have seen information on other similar experiments where these were...
  10. Zack K

    Change in the Electric Field Due to a Copper Wire Being Inserted

    Homework Statement A point charge of 6 × 10−9 C is located at the origin. The magnitude magnitude at ##\langle 0.6,0,0\rangle## m is 150 N/C Next, a short, straight, thin copper wire 5 mm long is placed along the x axis with its center at location ##\langle 0.3,0,0 \rangle## m. What is the...
  11. A

    Solving Exercise: Find Thickness of Rubber Insulation for Copper Wire

    Good day all, I tried to solve the following exercise, I would be glad to get feedback for my attempt ( indeed I was puzzled by the numerical solution I got just need to check it for any mistake: A copper wire , 2mm in diameter and 100 m in length has an electrical resistance of 0,5 mΩ/m, the...
  12. DracoMalfoy

    Thermal physics phase change: Liquid copper to solid

    Homework Statement How much energy must be removed from the system to turn liquid copper of mass 1.5kg at 1083 degrees celsius to solid copper at 1000 degrees celsius? a. -2.49X10^5J b. -3.67X10^4J c. 2.25X10^3J d. 9.45X10^4J e. -2.78X10^3J Homework Equations Q=Mc(Tf-Ti)...
  13. cookiemnstr510510

    Square copper wire loop within a magnetic field

    Homework Statement In the figures below, a copper wire of circular cross section, A, has been bent into a square loop of side length, c, and arc welded at the seam for electrical continuity. Assume that the resulting square loop has a resistance, R, and a mass, M. The loop is originally held...
  14. M

    Heat Energy and Power -- Heating ice in a copper pan

    Homework Statement Calculate the power needed to heat a 1360 gram chunk of ice in a 600 gram copper pan from 0 ◦C to the system’s final temperature of 35◦C in a time of 10 minutes. Homework Equations Q=mcchange in temp Q=mLf P= energy/time The Attempt at a Solution I thought that adding the...
  15. C

    Can Copper Patina be Applied to Lead-Free Solder in Stained Glass Work?

    I've just starting out doing some stained glass work which involves applying copper tape to the edges of glass then soft soldering the parts together. You can buy a Copper Patina solution that is intended to be brushed onto the solder to give it a nice shiny copper patina. However reports on...
  16. L

    Hot dipped galvanized steel with copper based grease -- corroision question

    do you think copper based grease on the threads of a hot dipped galvanized pipe would likely noticeably(naked eye, no measuring equipment) speed up corrosion of the galvanized pipe in normal environments such as buried in typical soils, maybe slightly more corrosive locations than urban areas...
  17. S

    Chemistry Does hydrated Copper Chloride with 20 moles of H2O make sense?

    Homework Statement without posting all the lab data I am just wondering if this makes sense. I calculated moles Chlorine to moles Copper as 2:1. (seems reasonable to me). Then I calculated mole ratio of water to Copper in hydrated sample as 20:1. (not sure if this is "reasonable " or not...
  18. S

    Why do copper, gold and cesium have special colors?

    Because metals have free electrons, so they have almost continuous energy states going up and down different energy levels and repeating themselves, most metals are silver-white, right?But why do gold, copper, and cesium have special colors? I wanted to know more about this, so I studied the...
  19. M

    A copper wire and an iron wire - Potential difference

    Homework Statement A copper wire and an iron wire of equal length l and diameter d are joined, and a potential difference V is applied between the ends of the composite wire. Calculate the potential difference (in volts) across the iron wire. Assume that l = 2.00 m., d = 0.30 mm., and V = 156...
  20. B

    Unknown Electrolysis(?) reaction occurring

    I have obtained an experimental setup of a Marx bank which has electrolytic liquid resistors. In the tubing of the resistors are various strength solutions of copper sulfate. I was told that the electrodes are copper but there appears to be some sort of plating or other reaction occurring...
  21. S

    What gas is produced when copper is added to diluted HCl?

    Copper pennies were placed into HCl which had been diluted with an unknown quantity of water. The pennies look cleaner, ... remain un-corroded (as expected). There is a slight bit of gas being produced , with no smell, but can cause discomfort to eyes. Bubbles formed on the pennies for the...
  22. M

    Copper + sulfuric acid + H2O = stink?

    I put some copper bits into concentrated sulfuric acid. Nothing much happened other than it got shiny and clean looking. So I poured off the acid and then put water on the copper to rinse off the remaining acid, and the copper started bubbling and made a nasty rotten egg smell. Is that...
  23. Gyro de Pyro

    Magnetic plate eddy current braking effect on a copper disc

    Hi, I've seen many videos of neodymium magnets sliding slowly down an inclined copper plate, or slowly down a copper tube - due to eddy current braking,but never the other way around. My question is; will a copper disc sliding down an inclined magnetic plate, or down a magnetic tube act in the...
  24. J

    Copper (II) salts and SO2: a question

    The reaction below moves left to right (I expect it has an equilibrium somewhere): SO2(g) + 2 CuCl2(aq) + 2 H2O → H2SO4(l) + 2 HCl(l) + 2 CuCl(aq) I'm wondering if copper (II) acetate will work in place of copper (II) chloride: producing acetic and sulfuric acids instead of hydrochloric and...
  25. O

    Inserting a steel rod into a current-carrying copper pipe

    << Mentor Note -- thread moved from the technical forums, so no Homework Template is shown >> The situation is as follows: Current I flows along the axis of the copper pipe. From Ampere's law, the magnetic field inside the pipe is zero and is equal to μ0*I/(2π*r) outside the pipe. Now, an...
  26. M

    What is voltage when running current through copper plats?

    Hey everyone, I'm hoping that you guys will be able to help me with some calculations. I was on YouTube and came across this: I then began to wonder if I could make a solenoid using bitter disk as in the video, granted no where near as powerful. I would say 1 tesla using an iron core. After...
  27. Lugonja

    Copper Magnetism: Interaction & Strength Requirements

    I have read that, while copper is not magnetic per se, if we have a strong enough magnet, it can interact with copper. This ties in with the fact that all matter can be magnetic if you have a strong enough magnetic field. But I am interested, how strong must the magnet be to interact with such...
  28. NTL2009

    How Can I Achieve an Aged Copper Look Without Chemicals?

    I'm working on some decorative items made of copper. I'd like to have them achieve the brown color of an old copper penny (or the old copper pipes in my home). I've read you can do this with some chemicals, but due to size/shape I'd like to do this some other way. I'm also concerned that any...
  29. Y

    Design Alien Skeleton w/ Copper, Calcium & Element: Tip?

    Could calcium and copper and say - boron, be joined into one substance? If not boron, then which element? I am trying to design an alien skeleton with copper, calcium, and ? I love copper and part of the idea is its distribution throughout the universe. I am asking for a tip about where to look...
  30. F

    PVC vs Copper Pipe Thermal Conductivity

    Question#1 I would like to compare a 100' length of 4" PVC pipe with air in it surrounded by Earth and/or water. What length of 4" copper pipe would equal a 100' length of PVC? Question#2 If the inside of the pipe had turbulence what length of non-turbulent 100' PVC 4" pipe would it equal? I...
  31. G

    B Could Copper's 29th Ionization Energy Be Used to Create Uranium-235?

    So I was playing with periodic table and discovered Cu's 29th ionization energy(cu with no electron) is 1116105 KJ/mole . Then i searched on google to convert to MeV which is 6.9661798e+21 , then I thought that one uranium 235 produce 200mev so to make that you would need around 3.5e+19...
  32. 1

    Calculating Heat Transfer in Copper Conductors: A Thermodynamics Question

    Hello, I have a question for expert in termodynamics. Let's assume I have a copper conductor made of two big disks connected with a very thin wire. Let's imagine I have a current pulse starting somewhere in the wire, and assume the current density is high, like 100A/mm^2. This current will...
  33. J

    How to calculate heat dispersion through a solid copper rod?

    I'm trying to build a fanless computer case for a small electronic device. I'm trying to figure out what type of heat-sink material I should use. I have a solid copper rod about 3cm in length with a radius of .05cm. I've determined and calculated the density, specific heat, thermal...
  34. P

    Low DC amp through small circuit of 14 AWG copper wire?

    I have a 2 AMP regulated DC power supply, with variable voltage 3 - 12 v. If in a small circuit, i.e, small copper wire with 1 ohm resistor. Why am i not getting at max Amps?
  35. I720I

    Copper Compounds: Fun Ideas for Amateurs

    I'm an amateur chemist, and due to some of my projects I have what I would consider an excess of copper powder. I'm just looking for some interesting or fun things to do with the copper. Note: I do not have access to a furnace.
  36. stephen8686

    E-Field Through Copper Wire given drift velocity

    Homework Statement If the magnitude of the drift velocity of free electrons in a copper wire is 7.84×10-4 m/s, what is the electric field in the conductor? (Also gives chart that states that the resistivity of Cu is 1.7×10-8 Ωm) Homework Equations [/B] vd=(qEτ)/me (where τ is avg. time...
  37. moenste

    Find drift velocity of the current carriers in the copper strip

    Homework Statement ABCD is a plane rectangular strip of conducting material of uniform thickness, with a steady current flowing uniformly from AD to BC. The potential difference between E and F, the mid-points respectively of AB and CD, is zero, but when a magnetic field is set up at right...
  38. P

    Static coefficient of friction between copper or brass

    Hello all I'm trying to calculate a torque needed to tighten a threaded terminal. (Both male and female parts are copper alloy) I'm using Motosh's equation which requires me to use the coefficient of friction. Web sources tells me that the copper-copper coefficient of friction is 1.0. The...
  39. F

    Lemon battery without copper and zinc metals

    Hello, I have seen a video online that shows how a LED can be lit using a single lemon without using a copper and a zinc nail. They simply stick the LED into the lemon. What does that work? I know the lemon contains the electrolyte but don't we always need to dissimilar metals for the battery...
  40. wolram

    Copper plating a non metallic material

    I want to copper plate a non metallic material I will be using genuine silver paint to coat the material, my problem is how to estimate the time it takes to deposit a layer 25 thou thick. I have a variable voltage, amperage power supply, i guess it has some thing to do with varying the amperage...
  41. Buggsy GC

    Why does AC have less copper loss than DC

    Hi there everyone, I'm doing some study on electronics and the section on the advantages of A/C over DC mentioned that AC has less copper loss (I^2 x R), But to me this seems contradictory to the skin effect. Could someone please tell me why AC has less copper loss.
  42. T

    Copper Electroplating, cell voltage = 0V?

    Hello everybody, this is probably a very novice question, but imagine anode and cathode, both made from copper immersed in CuSO4 aqueous solution (1M at standard temp and pressure + assuming electrodes are very near each other -> minimizing diffusion/migration resistance) and: Cu(2+) + 2e- ->...
  43. M

    Aluminium vs Copper in power lines

    Hi, I have a question concerning the use of aluminium in power lines. I know that it's lighter than copper and thus cheaper, which is the main reason we prefer it above copper. But in fact alumunium has a lower conductivity than copper. Why is it then that one kg of aluminium can carry twice...
  44. Jimmerding

    Detanglers for copper wire/power lines - Do they exist?

    Morning all, I am currently designing a VAWT and am working on a contra-rotating turbine, but I am extremely new to electrical engineering as a whole, I just really like the idea of designing something like this as a fun project and possibly being able to benefit from lower power bills as a...
  45. J

    Is Copper Suitable for Piping in Alkaline Electrolysis Units?

    [Note: Thread moved to homework forum by mentor] This is one of my homework problems: You are designing a counter flow heat exchanger for cooling a KOH electrolyte pH (11) in an electrolysis unit. The liquid is saturated with hydrogen. One of your team members suggests using copper pipes for...
  46. PupuWire

    Can copper be harvested from discarded phone wire?

    I have approximately 30 pounds of discarded phone wire. I would like to recycle the metals (copper?) within, but don't know if it is feasible or even worth attempting. I also just returned from helping a parent clean out the garage, including a retired aerospace engineer's vast collection of...
  47. S

    Compute the magnitude of the current density

    Homework Statement Copper and aluminum are being considered for a high‐voltage transmission line that must carry a current of 51.4 A. The resistance per unit length is to be 0.176 Ω/km. Compute the magnitude of the current density for an aluminum cable. Homework Equations R\quad =\quad \frac {...
  48. N

    Thickness of a partially reflective copper mirror

    Hello everyone, We are trying to fabricate a copper layer that is 41% reflective to a beam of 1521nm wavelength. The formula I have used to calculate the thickness is: R = 1 - e-αt Where R: desired reflectance of mirror t: thickness of mirror that would produce said reflectance α...
  49. CAH

    Why does the magnetic field/flux change in copper conductor?

    If you drop a permanent magnet like steel through a copper tube it induces an emf, this is because you have a change in magnetic field/flux? But how? Why? The copper isn't producing a current before the magnet is dropped into it... Does something happen with the electrons in the copper?
  50. K

    Terminal Velocity of magnet down a copper tube

    Homework Statement I[/B] I am trying to find an equation that relates the velocity of 3 magnet when it falls down a copper tube to my measurement. The length of the copper tube is L=0.24m, The total mass of the 3 magnet is m = 4.98x10-3kg magnetic flux density B = 428mT, the thickness of the...
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