Specific Weight of Copper, Properties, Applications and Value Table

Copper is an element of the fourth period and the eleventh group of the periodic table. In its simple form, copper is a ductile transition metal with a pinkish or golden shade.

Copper is one of the first materials mastered by humans because of its relatively low melting point and availability. It is one of the seven metals known since ancient times. Copper occurs in native form more often than iron, silver or gold. The chemical name of copper, Cuprum, comes from the name of the island of Cyprus.

Table of Specific Weight of Copper

Because copper is a complex material, calculating its specific weight independently in field conditions is practically impossible. Such measurements are carried out in special chemical laboratories. However, the average specific weight of copper is known and ranges from 8.96 g/cm³.

To calculate the weight of copper and simplify estimates, the table below gives values for specific weight and for the weight of copper depending on the units of measurement.

Properties of Copper

Copper is a ductile metal with a pinkish or golden shade. When exposed to air, it becomes covered with an oxide film of red or yellowish color, and in transmitted light it may appear bluish green.

Along with cesium, gold and osmium, copper is a metal with a clearly expressed color that differs from the silvery or gray appearance of most other metals. Copper forms a face-centered cubic lattice.

This material has excellent electrical conductivity, ranking second after silver by this parameter, as well as high thermal conductivity. Copper has a high temperature coefficient of resistance. Copper belongs to the group of diamagnetic materials.

Copper is also used in alloys with zinc to make brass, with tin to make bronze, with nickel to make cupronickel and in several other alloys.

This element is only weakly affected by air in the absence of carbon dioxide and moisture. Copper is a weak reducing agent and does not react with water or dilute hydrochloric acid. It can dissolve in non-oxidizing acids in the presence of oxygen, as well as in ammonia and cyanide media. It oxidizes well when interacting with nitric and concentrated sulfuric acid, oxygen, chalcogens, nonmetal oxides, aqua regia and halogens. When heated, it reacts with hydrogen halides.

Copper has been widely used since ancient times. Its distinctive properties are still among the most valuable, which makes copper one of the most widely used materials. The main areas of application include:

• use in electrical engineering for making wires, cables and other conductors;
• use in heat-removal devices and heat exchangers;
• production of copper pipes;
• use of copper in various alloys;
• use of copper in jewelry alloys;
• Use of copper as a highly conductive and thermally conductive matrix, stabilizer or sheath in superconducting cables and cryogenic devices
• use as a catalyst for acetylene;
• wide use in architectural work.