Question

What are the uses of copper?

Answer 1

Hint: Copper is a metal and it has many properties like soft, malleability, and ductility due to which it can be easily formed into sheets and wires. The properties like very high thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity make it suitable for a wide range of applications.


Complete step by step answer:
Copper is the metal that belongs to group 11 and period 4 of the d-block and its atomic number is 29.
 Copper is a metal and it has many properties like soft, malleability, and ductility due to which it can be easily formed into sheets and wires. The properties like very high thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity make it suitable for a wide range of applications.
The pure freshly exposed copper surface has pinkish-orange color.
Some of the major applications of copper are electrical wires, industrial machinery, and roofing, and plumbing.
In power transmission, telecommunication, electronic circuitry, power generation, and countless types of electrical equipment are produced by copper metal.
In ancient times due to its properties like durability, corrosion resistance, and waterproof, it is used in architectural material. Products like wall cladding, building expansion joints, radio frequency shielding, etc were manufactured by copper.
Since pure copper metal is a soft metal, other metals are mixed with copper to produce alloy like brass, bronze, etc, that are widely used.
When copper is mixed with gold and silver to give strength to pure gold and silver is used for making jewelry.


Note: Copper is a biodegradable metal, so microorganisms like Chromobcaterium violaceum and Pseudomonas fluorescens help to degrade the copper metal. Biologically, in eukaryotes, the copper is used for aerobic respiration.