By the 7th millennium BCE, copper and the possibilities of its use for melting and forging various products became known on the territory of modern Turkey as well. This metal became more widespread by the 6th–5th millennia BCE. And in the 4th millennium BCE it became the main material used to manufacture weapons and various household items.
The first copper products were made from nuggets: if blows are applied to them with a certain frequency, force, and speed, the mineral can be given the desired shape. This is possible because under certain efforts the already soft and ductile metal heats up and becomes even more malleable. But until systematic copper mining was organized, craftsmen could use only accidentally found native minerals for work, which substantially limited possibilities of using the metal.
Mining and processing copper on an “industrial” scale began in Egypt around 3700–3900 BCE on the Sinai Peninsula. Later, by the beginning of the 3rd millennium BCE, large copper ore deposits were found on Cyprus. After the island was conquered by the Romans, they gave the metal mined here the name aes cyprium, which over time shortened to the cuprum (Cu) known to us now.
On the territory of modern Russia the first copper mines were opened around the end of the 3rd – beginning of the 2nd millennium BCE. Remains of copper mines are still found in Siberia, the Altai, the Urals, and Transcaucasia.
Despite the fact that systematic copper mining was conducted from ancient times, industrial metal melting in Russia began only in the 15th century CE, after the Tsilemsk copper mines were opened. Discovery of these deposits served as an impetus for building the first non-ferrous metallurgy enterprise in the history of the Russian state. Unfortunately, the plant did not last long. Absence of communication routes and poverty of the ore made such copper mining unprofitable and soon led to closing the enterprise. Attempts to restore the mines continued until the second half of the 17th century but were unsuccessful: little ore was found, and its quality was very low.
Copper is a ductile, soft metal resistant to corrosion. It has low resistivity and high thermal conductivity. Exactly the latter qualities are highly valued in electrical engineering. At present more than 40% of all copper produced goes to manufacturing cable products: single- and multi-core cables, wires, and other conductors. In this industry pure copper is valued because adding any impurities reduces metal conductivity.
In addition, pure copper is used to produce heat sinks, including radiators, tubes for cooling systems, and heat-spreading plates. Copper has twice the thermal conductivity of aluminum used for the same purposes. But for economy, because copper is significantly more expensive than aluminum, radiators, including those used in microprocessor technology, are often made bimetallic: the core of such structures is made of copper and the remaining elements of aluminum.
But copper is widely used not only in pure form — it is the main component of many alloys, including precision ones. The best-known copper alloys are:
A distinctive property of copper is absence of sparks on contact with steel surfaces, so it is widely used in manufacturing tools for work in explosive conditions. For example, when repairing gas pipelines, tools from bronze or steel coated with a copper layer are used.
According to various scientists’ estimates, from 80% to 95% of all copper ever mined and produced continues to be in circulation as finished products or goes to remelting to manufacture new products. Thanks to its versatility and durability copper received the name “man’s eternal metal.”
