Copper Element Facts

29 Cu 63.546 Copper General | States | Energies Oxidation & Electrons | Appearance & Characteristics Reactions | Compounds | Radius | Conductivity Abundance & Isotopes A nugget of natural, native copper with imbedded copper minerals.

General:

Name: Copper	Symbol: Cu
Type: Transition Metal	Atomic weight: 63.546
Density @ 293 K: 8.96 g/cm3	Atomic volume: 7.1 cm3/mol
Discovered: Copper has been known since ancient times and has been used by people for over ten thousand years. The Copper Age sits between the Neothilic (Stone) and Bronze Ages. The Copper Age took place at different times in different cultures, when people began using copper tools alongside stone tools. The word copper is derived from the Latin word 'cuprum' meaning 'metal of Cyprus'. The Mediterranean island of Cyprus was an ancient source of mined copper.

States

State (s, l, g): solid
Melting point: 1357.77 K   (1084.62 oC)	Boiling point: 2833 K   (2560 oC)

Energies

Specific heat capacity: 0.38 J g-1 K-1	Heat of atomization: 338 kJ mol-1
Heat of fusion: 13.050 kJ mol-1	Heat of vaporization (sublimation): 300.30 kJ mol-1
1st ionization energy: 745.4 kJ mol-1	2nd ionization energy: 1957.9 kJ mol-1
3rd ionization energy: 3553.5 kJ mol-1	Electron affinity: 118.5 kJ mol-1

Oxidation & Electrons

Shells: 2,8,18,1	Electron configuration: [Ar] 3d10 4s1
Minimum oxidation number: 0	Maximum oxidation number: 4
Min. common oxidation no.: 0	Max. common oxidation no.: 2
Electronegativity (Pauling Scale): 1.95	Polarizability volume: 6.7 Å3

Appearance & Characteristics

Structure: fcc: face-centered cubic	Color: orange-red
Harmful Effects: Copper is essential in all plants and animals. Excess copper is, however, toxic. Toxicity can occur from eating acidic food that has been cooked with copper cookware. Copper cookware should be lined to prevent ingestion of toxic verdigris (compounds formed when copper corrodes).	Hardness: 3.0 mohs
Verdigris on rooftop decorations.	Characteristics: Copper is a reddish orange, soft metal that takes on a bright metallic luster. It is malleable, ductile, and an excellent conductor of heat and electricity - only silver has a higher electrical conductivity than copper. Copper surfaces exposed to air gradually tarnish to a dull, brownish color. If water and air are present, copper will slowly corrode to form the carbonate verdigris often seen on roofs and statues.
Growing copper sulfate crystals is cool - chemicool in fact. You could try to grow a giant one like this.	Uses: As a result of its excellent electrical conductivity, copper's most common use is in electrical equipment such as wiring and motors. Because it corrodes slowly, copper is used in roofing, guttering, and as rainspouts on buildings. It is also used in plumbing and in cookware and cooking utensils. Commercially important alloys such as brass and bronze are made with copper and other metals. American coins are copper alloys and gun metals also contain copper. Copper is used widely as an agricultural poison and as an algaecide in water purification. Copper oxide in Fehling's solution is widely used in tests for the presence of monosaccharides (simple sugars).

Reactions

Reaction with air: mild, w/ht ⇒ CuO, Cu2O	Reaction with 6 M HCl: none
Reaction with 3 M HNO3: mild, ⇒ Cu(NO3)2, NOx	Reaction with 6 M NaOH:

Compounds

Oxide(s): CuO, Cu2O (cuprite)	Chloride(s): CuCl, CuCl2
Hydride(s): CuH

Radius

Atomic radius: 135 pm	Ionic radius (1+ ion): 91 pm
Ionic radius (2+ ion): 87 pm	Ionic radius (3+ ion): 68 pm
Ionic radius (2- ion): pm	Ionic radius (1- ion): pm

Conductivity

Thermal conductivity: 401 W m-1 K-1

Electrical conductivity: 60.7 x 106 S m-1

Abundance & Isotopes

Abundance earth's crust: 68 ppm by weight, 22 ppm by moles

Abundance solar system: 700 parts per billion by weight, 10 parts per billion by moles

Cost, pure: 2.7 $/100g

Cost, bulk: 0.24 $/100g

Source: Copper occasionally occurs naturally, in native form, and is found in many minerals such as cuprite (Cu2O), malachite (Cu2CO3(OH)2), azurite (Cu2(CO3)2 (OH) 2), chalcopyrite (CuFeS 2), and bornite (Cu5FeS4). Most copper ore is mined or extracted as copper sulfides. Copper is then obtained by smelting and leaching. Finally, the resulting crude copper is purified by electrolysis involving plating onto pure copper cathodes.

Isotopes: Copper has 24 isotopes whose half-lives are known, with mass numbers 57 to 80. Of these, four are stable, 63Cu and 65Cu. Over 69.1% of of naturally occurring copper is in the form of 63Cu.