Copper (Cu)

Student Objectives: Students will be able to identify some of the properties of copper, two of its common alloys and several of its main uses.

Tips for the Teachers: Discuss where copper may be found in everyday life, such as older pennies, copper-clad cookware and electrical wire. Students should begin to understand that electrical machines, tools and appliances make use of copper and other minerals that may not be on the outside.

Suggested Activities:

1. Let students create sculptures from copper wire.
2. Have the students collect items from home that are made of copper or have copper in them. Cut out picture and create a collage.
3. Bring an object made of Bronze or brass. Let students touch it and discuss its texture, shape and weight.
4. Make a flashlight without a cover, using a size “D” battery, a small light bulb and two pieces of copper wire. Connect one piece of wire to the light bulb at one end and the positive end of the battery at the other. Connect the second wire to the light bulb and touch it to the negative end. The bulb will light when the circuit is completed. Discuss the flow of electricity through the wire and what happens when on wire is disconnected.

Measurements/Evaluation:

1. What color does copper turn when it tarnishes?
2. What do you add to copper to make bronze? Brass?
3. Copper doesn’t corrode easily. There is a copper pipe in Egypt that is how many years old?
4. Copper is easily shaped,. What is another word for this?
5. When a material lets heat and electricity travel through it, what do we say it does? Does copper wire conduct electricity well?

For more information on copper please contact:

The Copper Development Association Inc.

260 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10016

(212) 251-7200

Or visit their website at www.copper.org

 Copper

Color: Reddish brown or pink

Weight: Nearly 9 times the weight of water

Found: In deposits as “native” copper and in mineral ores.

Copper is malleable, ductile and long lasting. There is a lot of copper and is found and mined all around the world.

Copper conducts heat and electricity better than any other metal except silver. It does not corrode easily. In fact, a copper pipe that was used in ancient Egypt is still in good condition 5,000 years later. Ancient people used copper for tools, weapons and decoration. Then they began making bronze by adding tin to copper. Bronze items became so popular that people now call that whole time in history the Bronze Age.

When copper tarnishes, it turns green on the surface. Some of the biggest deposits of copper in the United States were found by accident when prospectors noticed greenish rock sticking out of the ground. Two of these discoveries were actually mountains of copper ore, which also contained many other important minerals. About 1/2 of the copper now used is recycled from copper items that are melted down. The rest is from recently mined ore. 

When zinc is added to copper, brass is made. Both brass and bronze are stronger than pure copper and do not corrode in the air or water except for a small amount of tarnishing.

Copper is used for wire for electricity, tubing and pipes for plumbing and in chemical compounds. Copper chemicals are used in plant plants sprays and to treat swimming pools to keep algae from growing. Copper and its alloys are important for parts of automobiles, airplanes, trains, space travel and satellites.