| COPPER | 29Cu |
|---|---|
| Appearance | Copper is a reddish colour and can take on a bright sheen. It is both malleable and ductile. |
| Discovery | Copper was known of in ancient civilizations. It is said to have been mined for more than 5000 years. The Bronze Age goes back to 3300 BC. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. It was much harder and durable than iron, copper and tin. It marked a huge advance in the development of mankind. |
| Electronic Configuration | simple: 2.8.18.1 ADVANCED: 1s2 2s2 2p6 3s2 3p6 3d10 4s1 or [Ar] 3d10 4s1 for short. Like chromium, it breaks the Aufbau build-up rule. It does this in order to have a complete 3d subshell - giving it added stability. |
| Isotopes | 63Cu has an abundance of 69.17%; 64Cu has a half-life of just 12.9 hours; 65Cu 30.83%; and 66Cu has a half-life of 61.88 hours. |
| Source | Copper metal does not occur naturally. The greatest source of copper is in the minerals chalcopyrite and bornite. Copper ores, sulfides oxides and carbonates of copper, are found in the USA and Canada. Copper is obtained by smelting, leaching and electrolysis. NOTES: Smelt: to extract a metal from its ore, by a process involving heating and melting. Leaching: where an ore is treated with chemicals, to convert the valuable metals within, into soluble salts, while the impurities remains insoluble. |
| Common uses | The greatest percentage of copper is used for electrical cables and electrical equipment. Brass and bronze or alloys of copper and are used extensively. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, while bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Copper to sulfate is used widely as an agricultural poison. It also acts as an algicide in water purification. Fehling solution, a solution of copper(II) sulfate and ammonia, is used to distinguish between aldehydes and ketones. |
| Test | In the flame test, copper and its salts, impart a blue-green colour to a blue Bunsen flame. |
| Melting point in Kelvin | 1356.6 |
| Boiling point in Kelvin | 2840 |
| Density in kg/m3 | 8960 at 293K |
| Oxidation States | -1 0 +1 +2 +3 and +4 but mostly +2 |
| IE1 in kJmol-1 | 745.4 |
| IE2 in kJmol-1 | 1958 |
| IE3 in kJmol-1 | 3554 |
| IE4 in kJmol-1 | 5326 |
| IE5 in kJmol-1 | 7709 |
| IE6 in kJmol-1 | 9940 |
| IE7 in kJmol-1 | 13400 |
| IE8 in kJmol-1 | 16000 |
| IE9 in kJmol-1 | 19200 |
| IE10 in kJmol-1 | 22400 |
| EA1 in kJmol-1 | 118.3 |
| Enthalpy of Fusion in kJmol-1 | 13.0 |
| Enthalpy of Vaporisation in kJmol-1 | 306.7 |