the.com/copper
the metal that kills germs on contact and built every wire you've ever trusted
means A reddish-brown metallic element prized for conducting electricity and heat, resisting corrosion, and alloying into bronze and brass.
from From Latin 'cuprum,' itself a shortening of 'aes Cyprium' — 'metal of Cyprus' — because the Romans mined so much of it on that island. The Latin gave Old English 'coper,' which hardened into modern 'copper.' The element's chemical symbol, Cu, still carries that Cyprian fingerprint. (The slang 'copper' for a police officer is a separate tale, probably from 'cop,' to catch — not from the metal at all.)
- self-sanitizing
- Bacteria die within hours on bare copper surfaces
- ancient flex
- Humans have worked it for over 10,000 years
- oddly green
- It corrodes into the Statue of Liberty's color
- recyclable forever
- Quality never degrades no matter how often melted
- body essential
- You'd die without trace copper in your blood
chilean copper mines — chile produces 28% of world's copper, led by escondida mine in atacama desert
kennecott bingham canyon — utah copper mine, one of largest open-pit mines on earth, producing since 1906
statue of liberty patina — 304 feet tall statue covered in 62 tons of copper oxidized to green patina since 1886
itaipu dam wiring — brazil-paraguay hydroelectric dam uses 3,000 km of copper wire in its electrical system