13 January: Copper

The French Revolutionary Calendar celebrated Copper today - a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Here are 10 things you might not know about it.

1. The word copper has its origins in Roman times when they referred to it as “aes cyprium” meaning ore from Cyprus, since that is where most copper came from back then. The word was later modified to “cuprum” from which we derive our modern day “copper” and the chemical symbol for copper, Cu. A bonus fact – the word “copper” referring to a police officer probably has nothing to do with the metal (ie them having metal Buttons/badges or getting paid with copper) but more likely comes from the verb “to cop” meaning to snatch or steal.
2. Copper's vital statitics are atomic number 29, Melting point: 1,984.32 degrees Fahrenheit (1,084.62 degrees Celsius) and Boiling point: 5,301 degrees F (2,927 degrees C).
3. Copper occurs naturally in the earth's crust and is so abundant that at current rates of extraction, there is enough there to last us five million years. That said, only a tiny fraction of it is accessible with current levels of technology, so recycling is still important. Luckily, copper can be recycled over and over without any loss of quality. 50% of Europe’s copper demand is met by recycled material, and about 80% of all the copper ever mined is still in use.
4. It's the only metal apart from Gold which isn't silvery Grey in colour.
5. Talking of gold, even the purest gold jewellery is actually a copper alloy. Gold is so soft and malleable that it wouldn't be practical to make it into jewellery without adding another metal to harden it; and that metal is usually copper. Copper can also be alloyed with Tin to make bronze and with Zinc to make brass.
6. Which brings us to Money. Small denomination coins are still referred to as “coppers” - as many of them were made of it, the US one cent coin being one example (nowadays, it is 97.5% zinc with a thin copper coating). Euro coins contain a copper alloy called Nordic gold, which was specially developed for the new currency.
7. Copper has been used by humans for millennia – in fact it was the first metal people ever used. The oldest metal object found in the Middle East is made from copper; a tiny awl dating back to 5100 B.C. The ancient Egyptians used it to make water pipes, which have in many cases outlasted the buildings they were used in. The Egyptians used the ankh symbol to represent copper. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Israel was written on copper.
8. A major use of copper today is for electric wiring (because it's an excellent conductor of Electricity, also used to make lightning conductors), pipes, cookware (because it conducts heat well and uniformly) and appliances. The average home contains 400 pounds of copper. The average car has 50 pounds (22.5 kg) of copper. It's also used in buildings – copper roofs are common, although they aren't usually copper coloured. Copper turns a pale Green when oxidised. The resulting green film is called verdigris or patina. One famous structure made from copper is the Statue of Liberty, which contains 179,000 pounds of the stuff, from Norway’s Visnes Copper Mines.
9. Copper is an essential mineral in the human diet. Our bodies contain between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight, mainly in the liver, muscle, and bone. It's essential for blood vessel formation, a healthy heart, for stabilising connective tissue, for Brain development and effective communication between nerve cells in the brain, and for healthy bones and teeth. 1 mg of copper per day is the recommended amount. Nuts, seeds, chickpeas, liver, cereals, meat and fish are all good sources, as is Cocoa (excellent excuse to eat more chocolate!)
10. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Aztecs used copper to treat diseases and to sterilise water and wounds. The Aztecs treated sore throats with it. In Persia and India copper was used to treat boils, eye infections and ulcers. Which would have been more effective than you might think, as copper is naturally antibacterial. That's why handrails and door knobs are often made from it in public buildings, and why it is used for water pipes. That said, copper bracelets to relieve the symptoms of arthritis are probably not effective – studies have found no difference between copper bracelets and non-copper control bracelets. A modern take on copper bracelets is compression clothing with copper woven into it. These may be effective although it's the compression rather than the added copper which provides the benefit. However, there is still the placebo effect!

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