Discovery date : Prehistoric
Discovered by: -
Origin of the name: The name is derived from the Old English name 'coper' in turn derived
from the Latin 'Cyprium aes',
meaning a metal from Cyprus
Allotropes :
~>COPPER is a chemical element with symbol Cu 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 reddish-orange color.
| FACT BOX | |||
| Group | 11 | Melting point | 1084.62°C, 1984.32°F, 1357.77 K |
| Period | 4 | Boiling point | 2560°C, 4640°F, 2833 K |
| Block | d | Density (g cm−3) | 8.96 |
| Atomic number | 29 | Relative atomic mass | 63.546 |
| State at 20°C | Solid | Key isotopes | 63Cu |
| Electron configuration | [Ar] 3d104s1 | CAS number | 7440-50-8 |
| ChemSpider ID | 22414 | ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database | |
Copper beads have been excavated in northern Iraq and which are more than ten thousand years old and presumably made from native copper, nuggets of which can sometimes be found. Copper was widely used in the ancient world as bronze, its alloy with tin, which was used to make cutlery, coins, and tools. In China it was used for bells.
Copper is not difficult to extract from it ores, but mineable deposits were relatively rare. Some, such as the copper mine at Falun, Sweden, date from the 1200s, were the source of great wealth. One way to extract the metal was to roast the sulfide ore then leach out the copper sulfate that was formed, with water. This was then trickled over scrap iron on the surface of which the copper deposited, forming a flaky layer that was easily removed.