Copper

Copper is the most commonly used material by the True Folk. It isn't the strongest, the easiest to work, or the most beautiful, but it is plentiful and easy to work without a sophisticated smithy.

Properties

Material Characteristics

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orange color. Copper is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and as a constituent of various metal alloys, such as sterling silver used in jewelry, cupronickel used to make marine hardware and coins, and constantan used in strain gauges and thermocouples for temperature measurement.
Copper is one of the few metals that can occur in nature in a directly usable metallic form (native metals). This led to very early human use in several regions, from c. 8000 BC. Thousands of years later, it was the first metal to be smelted from sulfide ores, c. 5000 BC, the first metal to be cast into a shape in a mold, c. 4000 BC and the first metal to be purposefully alloyed with another metal, tin, to create bronze, c. 3500 BC.
In the Roman era, copper was principally mined on Cyprus, the origin of the name of the metal, from aes сyprium (metal of Cyprus), later corrupted to сuprum (Latin), from which the words derived, coper (Old English) and copper, first used around 1530.
The commonly encountered compounds are copper(II) salts, which often impart blue or green colors to such minerals as azurite, malachite, and turquoise, and have been used widely and historically as pigments.
Copper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form a green verdigris (or patina). Copper is sometimes used in decorative art, both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Copper compounds are used as bacteriostatic agents, fungicides, and wood preservatives.
Copper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary mineral because it is a key constituent of the respiratory enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase. In molluscs and crustaceans, copper is a constituent of the blood pigment hemocyanin, replaced by the iron-complexed hemoglobin in fish and other vertebrates. In humans, copper is found mainly in the liver, muscle, and bone. The adult body contains between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight.

Physical & Chemical Properties

Copper is a fantastic conductor, holds an edge, is easy to sharpen, can be worked without heat, and is plentiful.

Compounds

Copper is used in bronze, in sculpture, and in many weapons.

Geology & Geography

Copper is a naturally-occurring element present in the earth's crust, oceans, lakes and rivers, from minute trace element levels through to rich mine deposits. It is an essential nutrient—plants, fish, animals and humans all need copper to function properly.

History & Usage

Discovery

The dwarven False Folk were the first peoples to work copper, longer ago than even the minotaur scholars can pinpoint. All of the False Folk began working copper long before any of the True Folk learned the techniques.

Everyday use

Copper is used for anything and everything: cooking pots, weaponry, armour, grill sheets, drinking vessels, sculpture, tools.

Cultural Significance and Usage

Copper is a significant metal for all of the True Folk, being highly respected as the first metal to be commonly worked in their cultures. The minotaur of the Rainlands give special significance to copper, seeing it as being a gift from the gods.

Reusability & Recycling

Copper is readily recyclable and can easily be melted down and recast.

Distribution

Trade & Market

Copper is used as currency in the lands of the False Folk, but are rarely used in such a way by the True Folk.

Cu

Type

Elemental / Molecular

Color

Pink, brown, blue, green

Boiling / Condensation Point

2562

Melting / Freezing Point

1085

Density

8.96

Common State

Solid