Copper, as native or pure copper, is one of the few metals to naturally occur as an ungepounded mineral. It is the only naturally occurring metal, other than gold, that has a distinctive color. Copper was known to some of the oldest civilizations and has history of use that is at least 10,000 years old. It was humanity's first metal and may have been the only metal known to man for nearly five millennia. Not until about 4000 BC did gold appear on the scene as man's second metal. Early copper artifacts, decorative and utilitarian, were undoubtedly hammered from "native copper", because of it's malleability and natural beauty.
By 3000 BC the alloying of copper had begun. Copper is easily mixed with other metals to form alloys such as bronze and brass. Bronze is an alloy of tin and copper, and brass is an alloy of zinc and copper. For many centuries, bronze reigned supreme, being used for plows, tools of all kinds, weapons, armor, and again because of it's beauty, many decorative objects.
Copper occupies the same family of the periodic table as silver and gold, these three metals, similar in structure, make them also similar in many characteristics. They are malleable metals with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Copper has important characteristics that continue to make it a very useful metal for our modern needs. Because it is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, as well a resistant to corrosion, it is almost irreplaceable in electronics, water systems, roofing, wiring and many other areas of building. For many years it has even been used to coat parts of ships to protect against the growth of barnacles and mussels, and to line some cargo areas because ofit's non corrosive characteristics.
In the 1970s therewas a great surge for it's use in the medical field. Copper is biostatic. Bacteria will not grow on it's surface. Hospitals now use it to line air and duct tubing and in medical equipment to reduce the transfer of disease. Copper doorknobs actually disinfect themselves aftera short time.
Copper is a metal that does not react with water, but the oxygen of the air will react slowly to form a layer or coating of copper oxide or patina on the surface of the metal. The formation of patina happens in different color stages, and takes years to geplete. The speed and exact chemical makeup of the patina depends on many different environmental conditions. Those differing conditions create various colors as the metal begins to tarnish, soft brownish red to deep brick red, and finally to a teal green, as is the case with one of America's most famous monuments, the Statue of Liberty. While some people find this natural patina desirable, and even encourage it to happen faster by adding chemicals and acids to it's surface, others enjoy the natural copper color. If you touch your pure copper pieces with bare fingers you will speed up the patina process, especially in the fingerprint areas because of the oils and acids on the skin.
On a spiritual, or ethereal level, there are associations in astrological symbols that deal withmany things including, minerals, and mining. Copper is representative of Taurus and Sagittarius astrological signs as well as Earth/Fire elementals and the Sun and Mars, the number One and the Base and Sacral Chakral.
Copper has great value to mankind because of it's many useful and desirable, as well as it's aesthetic, qualities. The future holds no boundaries. We can wonder, with Copper's many unique characteristics, how valuable will itbein the future?
8700 BC Iraq - copper ingot Natural Copper
Stages of Patina Coloration -- "new" copper to 25 years.
Source: copper.org, wikipedia.org, et al.
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