Copper

Copper is a non-ferrous material and it’s one of the few that is found on its own in nature. Its main characteristics are that it’s soft, ductile and malleable. It’s easy to work with when it’s cold but it has acrimony, hardness, resistance and fragility. It has a really high level of thermal and electrical conductivity. It’s very resistant to corrosion and easy to recycle. You can make alloys with copper like bronze (copper and tin), which increases mechanical properties and it’s less conductive and it’s used for statues and musical instruments; or brass (copper and zinc), which increases mechanical properties and it’s more conductive and it’s used for locks and taps.

It has wide applications, and most of it it’s used for electrical cables, radiators, cauldron, water and gas tubes… In the past, it was used for cowbells and oil lamps, as you can see in the photos.