Page 44 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Copper (Cu)
Element 29. Copper is a soft, easily bent metal belonging to the transition metals in the Periodic Table.
It is a very good conductor of electricity and heat. Only silver is a better conductor of electricity than copper.
Native copper was the first metal
to be used by people. Records of its use go back over 10,000 years, when it replaced stone. However, it is too soft for good tools and weapons.About 5,500 years ago it was alloyed with tin to make harder bronze.Another alloy, brass, is a mixture of copper and zinc.
Copper does not corrode easily except to produce a thin green protective coat of copper carbonate.
Discovery
Copper has been known since ancient times. It was mined as an ore and refined over 7,000 years ago. It is used on policemen’s uniforms for buttons, hence the nickname term for a policeman: cop.
 Black copper
oxide is heated while hydrogen moves through this reduction tube.The result is pure copper, which shows
a characteristically orange colour. Particles of copper have also coloured the flame, leaving the tube a characteristic green.
Key facts...
Name: copper
Symbol: Cu
Atomic number: 29
Atomic weight: 63.54
Position in Periodic Table: transition metal, group
(11) (copper group; coinage metal); period 4 State at room temperature: solid
Colour: orangy
Density of solid: 8.92 g/cc
Melting point: 1,083°C
Boiling point: 2,567°C
Origin of name: a corrupted form of the Roman
name for Cyprus, the island from which the
Romans obtained most of their copper. Shell pattern of electrons: 2–8–18–1
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