Copper is one of the world’s most widely used metals that is used in a huge variety of different industries. While many people know that it is used in copper wiring and copper nails, for instance, they often don’t know what the interesting characteristics and qualities of the metal actually are. In reality, however, copper is actually a fun metal! Learning about it may just give you a new found respect of the metal, and you may also learn about a range of different things that you use on a daily basis that you never knew have copper in them. Things like the coins in your pockets and waterproof roofing materials, all have copper included in them.
The Many Uses of Copper
The metal itself is used in almost every element of society. This includes artistic, technological, industrial, and chemical trades. This is due to the fact that copper can be molded and transformed again and again. As a result, industries can use it for an endless amount of reasons in a range of different forms. We know that copper was first used some 10,000 years ago and, in those ten millennia, it seems its use has only become more widespread. It is fascinating to think that some of the pieces of copper we hold today may have been used by our very distant ancestors as well, since copper never disappears. Next time you hold a little bit of copper wire, or you see a copper plate, for instance, you may want to think about that fact.
A Natural Substance
Copper is a metal that occurs naturally. As a result, it is also highly valuable. When truly pure, it is malleable and soft and its hue is red to orange. This is the same color that most people believe all copper is, in fact. Because it is a natural product, it can be used, reused, and recycled an endless amount of times. This is another reason why it is so useful and viable to all of us on earth. If a certain object contains copper, for instance, it can be removed and recycled. What is really exciting is that fact that, despite having been used and mined for such a long time, there is still lots of copper in the earth today. While environmentalists have been able to reduce the number of copper mines, and quite rightly so, there is still more copper in the earth than we are likely to ever need, even though our society and life is so dependent on it.
Copper Keeps Organisms Alive
Did you know that copper is avital part of respiratory enzymes? It is found in every single living organism and is therefore key to survival. It is even found in the blood of mollusks and crustaceans, for instance. In animals, it is found in muscles, bone, blood, and organs. Humans, meanwhile, have copper in their bones, muscle, and liver. Without copper, therefore, there would be no life.
