Copper

Unoxidized copper wire (left) and oxidized copper wire (right)

The East Tower of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, showing the contrast between the refurbished copper installed in 2010 and the green color of the original 1894 copper.

Native copper from the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan, about 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) long

Chuquicamata, in Chile, is one of the world's largest open pit copper mines

Copper prices 2003–2011 in US$ per tonne

Copper alloys are widely used in the production of coinage; seen here are two examples - post-1964 American dimes, which are composed of the alloy cupronickel and a pre-1968 Canadian dime, which is composed of an alloy of 80 percent silver and 20 percent copper.

Copper(II) gives a deep blue coloration in the presence of ammonia ligands. The one used here is tetraamminecopper(II) sulfate.

Pourbaix diagram for copper in uncomplexed media (anions other than OH- not considered). Ion concentration 0.001 m (mol/kg water). Temperature 25 °C.

Ball-and-stick model of the complex [Cu(NH3)4(H2O)2]2+, illustrating the octahedral coordination geometry common for copper(II).

A corroded copper ingot from Zakros, Crete, shaped in the form of an animal skin (oxhide) typical in that era.

Many tools during the Chalcolithic Era included copper, such as the blade of this replica of Ötzi's axe

Copper ore (chrysocolla) in Cambrian sandstone from Chalcolithic mines in the Timna Valley, southern Israel.

In alchemy the symbol for copper was also the symbol for the goddess and planet Venus.

Chalcolithic copper mine in Timna Valley, Negev Desert, Israel.

Acid mine drainage affecting the stream running from the disused Parys Mountain copper mines

18th-century copper kettle from Norway made from Swedish copper

Chalcography of the city of Vyborg at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. The year 1709 carved on the printing plate.

Copper fittings for soldered plumbing joints

Copper electrical busbars distributing power to a large building

Copper roof on the Minneapolis City Hall, coated with patina

Old copper utensils in a Jerusalem restaurant

Rich sources of copper include oysters, beef and lamb liver, Brazil nuts, blackstrap molasses, cocoa, and black pepper. Good sources include lobster, nuts and sunflower seeds, green olives, avocados, and wheat bran.

Photosynthesis functions by an elaborate electron transport chain within the thylakoid membrane. A central link in this chain is plastocyanin, a blue copper protein.

Chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.

- Copper

500 related topics

Bronze

Roman bronze nails with magical signs and inscriptions, 3rd-4th century AD.

Bronze bell with a visible crystallite structure.

Bronze weight with an inscribed imperial order, Qin dynasty

Industrial products of the Bunting Brass and Bronze Company, 1912

Chinese bells:Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng, Spring and Autumn period (476–221 BCE)

Singing bowls from the 16th to 18th centuries. Annealed bronze continues to be made in the Himalayas

The Dancing Girl, an Harappan artwork; 2400–1900 BCE; bronze; height: 10.8 cm; National Museum (New Delhi, India)

Ritual tripod cauldron (ding); circa 13th century BCE; bronze: height with handles: 25.4 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Ancient Egyptian statuette of a Kushite pharaoh; 713–664 BCE; bronze, precious-metal leaf; height: 7.6 cm, width: 3.2 cm, depth: 3.6 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Etruscan tripod base for a thymiaterion (incense burner); 475-450 BCE; bronze; height: 11 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Artemision Bronze; 460-450 BCE; bronze; height: 2.1 m; National Archaeological Museum (Athens)

Ancient Egyptian statuette of Isis and Horus; 305–30 BCE; solid cast of bronze; 4.8 × 10.3 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art (Cleveland, Ohio, US)

Ancient Greek statue of Eros sleeping; 3rd–2nd century BCE; bronze; 41.9 × 35.6 × 85.2 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gupta sculpture of Buddha offering protection; late 6th–early 7th century; copper alloy; height: 47 cm, width: 15.6 cm, diameter: 14.3 cm; from India (probably Bihar); Metropolitan Museum of Art

French or South Netherlandish Medieval caldron; 13th or 14th century; bronze and wrought iron; height: 37.5 cm, diameter: 34.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pair of French Rococo firedogs (chenets); circa 1750; gilt bronze; dimensions of the first: 52.7 x 48.3 x 26.7 cm, of the second: 45.1 x 49.1 x 24.8 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

French Neoclassical mantel clock (pendule de cheminée); 1757–1760; gilded and patinated bronze, oak veneered with ebony, white enamel with black numerals, and other materials; 48.3 × 69.9 × 27.9 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pair of French Chinoiserie firedogs; 1760–1770; gilt bronze; height (each): 41.9 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pair of Chinese vases with French Rococo mounts; the vases: early 18th century, the mounts: 1760–70; hard-paste porcelain with gilt-bronze mounts; 32.4 x 16.5 x 12.4 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

French Neoclassical mantel clock ("Pendule Uranie"); 1764–1770; case: patinated bronze and gilded bronze, Dial: white enamel, movement: brass and steel; 71.1 × 52.1 × 26.7 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pair of mounted vases (vase à monter); 1765–70; soft-paste porcelain and French gilt bronze; 28.9 x 17.1 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Winter; by Jean-Antoine Houdon; 1787; bronze; 143.5 x 39.1 x 50.5 cm, height of the pedestal: 86.4 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (such as aluminum, manganese, nickel or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such as arsenic, or silicon.

Malachite

Malachite in the walls of Outokumpu's old mine.

The funerary mask of the Red Queen of Palenque is made from a mosaic of malachite.

View along c axis of the crystal structure of malachite

View along a axis of malachite crystal structure

View along b axis of malachite crystal structure

Slice through a double stalactite, from Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Size 5.9 × 3.9 × 0.7 cm.

Malachite and azurite from Bisbee, Warren District, Mule Mts, Cochise County, Arizona

Malachite stalactites (to 9 cm height), from Kasompi Mine, Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Size: 21.6×16.0×11.9 cm.

Sample of malachite found at Kaluku Luku Mine, Lubumbashi, Shaba, Congo

Vase in malachite in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

Malachite, image taken under a stereoscopic microscope

British calendar, 1851, gilt bronze and malachite, height: 20.3 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)

Elephant carved from malachite. Length 11 cm.

Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2.

Alloy

Mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal.

Liquid bronze, being poured into molds during casting

Allotropes of iron, (alpha iron and gamma iron) showing the differences in atomic arrangement

Photomicrographs of steel. Top photo: Annealed (slowly cooled) steel forms a heterogeneous, lamellar microstructure called pearlite, consisting of the phases cementite (light) and ferrite (dark). Bottom photo: Quenched (quickly cooled) steel forms a single phase called martensite, in which the carbon remains trapped within the crystals, creating internal stresses

Different atomic mechanisms of alloy formation, showing pure metal, substitutional, interstitial, and a combination of the two

A meteorite and a hatchet that was forged from meteoric iron

Electrum, a natural alloy of silver and gold, was often used for making coins

Puddling in China, circa 1637. Opposite to most alloying processes, liquid pig-iron is poured from a blast furnace into a container and stirred to remove carbon, which diffuses into the air forming carbon dioxide, leaving behind a mild steel to wrought iron

Examples of alloys include red gold (gold and copper) white gold (gold and silver), sterling silver (silver and copper), steel or silicon steel (iron with non-metallic carbon or silicon respectively), solder, brass, pewter, duralumin, bronze, and amalgams.

Azurite

The background of Lady with a Squirrel by Hans Holbein the Younger was painted with Azurite

The greenish tint of the Madonna's mantle in Raphael's Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints is due to azurite weathering to malachite

Azurite from Arizona, collected by Dr John Hunter in the 18th century, Hunterian Museum, Glasgow

Fresh, unweathered azurite crystals showing the deep blue of unaltered azurite. From Špania Dolina, Slovakia

Azurite with Malachite, Copper Queen mine, Bisbee, Arizona

Azurite in siltstone, Malbunka mine, Northern Territory, Australia

Azurite, cross-section through merged stalactites, Bisbee, Arizona

Azurite crystal, from the minerals' collection at the Natural History Museum, London.

Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits.

Chemical element

A chemical element refers to all aspects of the species of atoms that have a certain number of protons in their nuclei, including the pure substance consisting only of that species.

$Estimated distribution of dark matter and dark energy in the universe. Only the fraction of the mass and energy in the universe labeled "atoms" is composed of chemical elements.$

Periodic table showing the cosmogenic origin of each element in the Big Bang, or in large or small stars. Small stars can produce certain elements up to sulfur, by the alpha process. Supernovae are needed to produce "heavy" elements (those beyond iron and nickel) rapidly by neutron buildup, in the r-process. Certain large stars slowly produce other elements heavier than iron, in the s-process; these may then be blown into space in the off-gassing of planetary nebulae

Abundances of the chemical elements in the Solar System. Hydrogen and helium are most common, from the Big Bang. The next three elements (Li, Be, B) are rare because they are poorly synthesized in the Big Bang and also in stars. The two general trends in the remaining stellar-produced elements are: (1) an alternation of abundance in elements as they have even or odd atomic numbers (the Oddo-Harkins rule), and (2) a general decrease in abundance as elements become heavier. Iron is especially common because it represents the minimum energy nuclide that can be made by fusion of helium in supernovae.

Mendeleev's 1869 periodic table: An experiment on a system of elements. Based on their atomic weights and chemical similarities.

The history of the discovery and use of the elements began with primitive human societies that discovered native minerals like carbon, sulfur, copper and gold (though the concept of a chemical element was not yet understood).

Patina

The Dresden Frauenkirche. The church was destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in 1945 and then rebuilt from 1993 to 2005 with new material; the stones with the black patina are the parts that survived the firebombing from the original 18th-century church.

Pre-colonial copper coin formerly used in the Copper Belt (Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia). The external layer has been weathered by moisture and rain, leading to the oxidation of copper.

Copper weather vane with verdigris patina

The Statue of Liberty gets its famous green color from the natural patina formed on its copper surface.

Natural copper patina at the Nordic Embassies (Berlin)

Patina ( or ) is a thin layer that variously forms on the surface of copper, brass, bronze and similar metals (tarnish produced by oxidation or other chemical processes), or certain stones, and wooden furniture (sheen produced by age, wear, and polishing), or any similar acquired change of a surface through age and exposure.

Experimental values of thermal conductivity