Copper production | Processing of Copper Ores | Non-ferrous metals properties |
Channel: Study with shivam sir
Date: 2021-07-03

Copper production
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. ... Copper is one of the few metals that can occur in nature in a directly usable metallic form (native metals).
Appearance: red-orange metallic luster
Thermal conductivity: 401 W/(m⋅K)
Electrical resistivity: 16.78 nΩ⋅m (at 20 °C)

Copper (Cu), chemical element, a reddish, extremely ductile metal of Group 11 (Ib) of the periodic table that is an unusually good conductor of electricity and heat. Copper is found in the free metallic state in nature. This native copper was first used (c. 8000 BCE) as a substitute for stone by Neolithic (New Stone Age) humans. Metallurgy dawned in Mesopotamia as copper was cast to shape in molds (c. 4000 BCE), was reduced to metal from ores with fire and charcoal, and was intentionally alloyed with tin as bronze (c. 3500 BCE). The Roman supply of copper came almost entirely from Cyprus. It was known as aes Cyprium, “metal of Cyprus,” shortened to cyprium and later corrupted to cuprum. See also bronze.

Occurrence, uses, and properties
Native copper is found at many locations as a primary mineral in basaltic lavas and also as reduced from copper compounds, such as sulfides, arsenides, chlorides, and carbonates. (For mineralogical properties of copper, see the table of native elements.) Copper occurs combined in many minerals, such as chalcocite, chalcopyrite, bornite, cuprite, malachite, and azurite. It is present in the ashes of seaweeds, in many sea corals, in the human liver, and in many mollusks and arthropods. Copper plays the same role of oxygen transport in the hemocyanin of blue-blooded mollusks and crustaceans as iron does in the hemoglobin of red-blooded animals. The copper present in humans as a trace element helps catalyze hemoglobin formation. A porphyry copper deposit in the Andes Mountains of Chile is the greatest known deposit of the mineral. By the early 21st century Chile had become the world’s leading producer of copper. Other major producers include Peru, China, and the United States.

Principal compounds
Copper forms compounds in the oxidation states +1 and +2 in its normal chemistry, although under special circumstances some compounds of trivalent copper can be prepared. It has been shown that trivalent copper survives no more than a few seconds in an aqueous solution.

Copper(I) (cuprous) compounds are all diamagnetic and, with few exceptions, colourless. Among the important industrial compounds of copper(I) are cuprous oxide (Cu2O), cuprous chloride (Cu2Cl2), and cuprous sulfide (Cu2S). Cuprous oxide is a red or reddish brown crystal or powder that occurs in nature as the mineral cuprite. It is produced on a large scale by reduction of mixed copper oxide ores with copper metal or by electrolysis of an aqueous solution of sodium chloride using copper electrodes. The pure compound is insoluble in water but soluble in hydrochloric acid or ammonia. Cuprous oxide is used principally as a red pigment for antifouling paints, glasses, porcelain glazes, and ceramics and as a seed or crop fungicide.