Copper

Copper, 29Cu
Copper
AppearanceRed-orange metallic luster
Standard atomic weight Ar°(Cu)
Copper in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium
Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon
Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon
Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton
Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon
Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon
Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson
–
↑
Cu
↓
Ag
nickel ← copper → zinc
Atomic number (Z)29
Groupgroup 11
Periodperiod 4
Block  d-block
Electron configuration[Ar] 3d10 4s1
Electrons per shell2, 8, 18, 1
Physical properties
Phase at STPsolid
Melting point1357.77 K ​(1084.62 °C, ​1984.32 °F)
Boiling point2835 K ​(2562 °C, ​4643 °F)
Density (at 20° C)8.935 g/cm3 [3]
when liquid (at m.p.)8.02 g/cm3
Heat of fusion13.26 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporization300.4 kJ/mol
Molar heat capacity24.440 J/(mol·K)
Vapor pressure
P (Pa) 1 10 100 1 k 10 k 100 k
at T (K) 1509 1661 1850 2089 2404 2834
Atomic properties
Oxidation statescommon: +2
−2,[4] −1,[5] 0,[6] +1,[7] +3,[7] +4[7]
ElectronegativityPauling scale: 1.90
Ionization energies
  • 1st: 745.5 kJ/mol
  • 2nd: 1957.9 kJ/mol
  • 3rd: 3555 kJ/mol
  • (more)
Atomic radiusempirical: 128 pm
Covalent radius132±4 pm
Van der Waals radius140 pm
Spectral lines of copper
Other properties
Natural occurrenceprimordial
Crystal structure ​face-centered cubic (fcc) (cF4)
Lattice constant
a = 361.50 pm (at 20 °C)[3]
Thermal expansion16.64×10−6/K (at 20 °C)[3]
Thermal conductivity401 W/(m⋅K)
Electrical resistivity16.78 nΩ⋅m (at 20 °C)
Magnetic orderingdiamagnetic[8]
Molar magnetic susceptibility−5.46×10−6 cm3/mol[9]
Young's modulus110–128 GPa
Shear modulus48 GPa
Bulk modulus140 GPa
Speed of sound thin rod(annealed)
3810 m/s (at r.t.)
Poisson ratio0.34
Mohs hardness3.0
Vickers hardness343–369 MPa
Brinell hardness235–878 MPa
CAS Number7440-50-8
History
Namingafter Cyprus, principal mining place in Roman era (Cyprium)
DiscoveryMiddle East (9000 BC)
Symbol"Cu": from Latin cuprum
Isotopes of copper
Main isotopes[10] Decay
abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
63Cu 69.2% stable
64Cu synth 12.70 h β+ 64Ni
β− 64Zn
65Cu 30.9% stable
67Cu synth 61.83 h β− 67Zn

Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin cuprum) 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 pinkish-orange color. Copper is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and as a constituent of various metal alloys, such as sterling silver used in jewelry, cupronickel used to make marine hardware and coins, and constantan used in strain gauges and thermocouples for temperature measurement.

Copper is one of the few metals that can occur in nature in a directly usable, unalloyed metallic form. This means that copper is a native metal. This led to very early human use in several regions, from c. 8000 BC. Thousands of years later, it was the first metal to be smelted from sulfide ores, c. 5000 BC; the first metal to be cast into a shape in a mold, c. 4000 BC; and the first metal to be purposely alloyed with another metal, tin, to create bronze, c. 3500 BC.[11]

Commonly encountered compounds are copper(II) salts, which often impart blue or green colors to such minerals as azurite, malachite, and turquoise, and have been used widely and historically as pigments.

Copper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form a green patina of compounds called verdigris. Copper is sometimes used in decorative art, both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Copper compounds are used as bacteriostatic agents, fungicides, and wood preservatives.

Copper is essential to all aerobic organisms. It is particularly associated with oxygen metabolism. For example, it is found in the respiratory enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase, in the oxygen carrying hemocyanin, and in several hydroxylases.[12] Adult humans contain between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight.[13]

  1. ^ "Standard Atomic Weights: Copper". CIAAW. 1969.
  2. ^ Prohaska, Thomas; Irrgeher, Johanna; Benefield, Jacqueline; Böhlke, John K.; Chesson, Lesley A.; Coplen, Tyler B.; Ding, Tiping; Dunn, Philip J. H.; Gröning, Manfred; Holden, Norman E.; Meijer, Harro A. J. (4 May 2022). "Standard atomic weights of the elements 2021 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. doi:10.1515/pac-2019-0603. ISSN 1365-3075.
  3. ^ a b c Arblaster, John W. (2018). Selected Values of the Crystallographic Properties of Elements. Materials Park, Ohio: ASM International. ISBN 978-1-62708-155-9.
  4. ^ Cu(−2) have been observed as dimeric anions [Cu4]2– in La2Cu2In; see Changhoon Lee; Myung-Hwan Whangbo (2008). "Late transition metal anions acting as p-metal elements". Solid State Sciences. 10 (4): 444–449. Bibcode:2008SSSci..10..444K. doi:10.1016/j.solidstatesciences.2007.12.001.
  5. ^ Jackson, Ross A.; Evans, Nicholas J.; Babula, Dawid J.; Horsley Downie, Thomas M.; Charman, Rex S. C.; Neale, Samuel E.; Mahon, Mary F.; Liptrot, David J. (28 January 2025). "Nucleophilicity at copper(-I) in a compound with a Cu–Mg bond". Nature Communications. 16 (1): 1101. Bibcode:2025NatCo..16.1101J. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-56544-z. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 11775243. PMID 39875432.
  6. ^ Moret, Marc-Etienne; Zhang, Limei; Peters, Jonas C. (2013). "A Polar Copper–Boron One-Electron σ-Bond". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135 (10): 3792–3795. Bibcode:2013JAChS.135.3792M. doi:10.1021/ja4006578. PMID 23418750.
  7. ^ a b c Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 28. doi:10.1016/C2009-0-30414-6. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.
  8. ^ Lide, D. R., ed. (2005). "Magnetic susceptibility of the elements and inorganic compounds". CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (PDF) (86th ed.). Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-0486-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2011.
  9. ^ Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. pp. E110. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.
  10. ^ Kondev, F. G.; Wang, M.; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S.; Audi, G. (2021). "The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear properties" (PDF). Chinese Physics C. 45 (3): 030001. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/abddae.
  11. ^ Robert McHenry, ed. (1992). "Bronze". The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (15 ed.). Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Incorporated. p. 612. ISBN 978-0-85229-553-3. OCLC 25228234.
  12. ^ Johnson, MD PhD, Larry E., ed. (2008). "Copper". Merck Manual Home Health Handbook. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  13. ^ "Copper in human health".
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