Copper (elemental)

Source of the photo
https://www.schoolmykids.com/learn/interactive-periodic-table/compare-copper-gold/
Author of the description
Berkl Zsófia

CHEMICAL SUBSTANCE DATASHEET

 

CHEMICAL SUBSTANCE IDENTIFICATION

Chemical name

Copper (elemental form)

Cupric cation (ionic form)

Synonyms (of ionic form)

Cupric ion, Copper (II) ion, Copper(2+), Copper ions; Copper(II)ions, etc. [1]

IUPAC name

Copper

Copper (2+) [1]

CAS No

7440-50-8 [2]

REACH registration number

 

EC No

231-159-6 [3]

Molecular formula

Cu

Cu2+ [1]

Substance group/chemical family

inorganic compound, transition metal [4]

Appearance

Physical state

Odour

Form

 

Colour

 

solid [2]

odourless (copper dust and mist)[2]

ductile, malleable metal (elemental) [2]

face-centered cubic crystal structure [4]

red or reddish, lustrous [2]

USES AND HANDLING ISSUES

Relevant identified uses

In building construction, including building wiring, plumbing, heating, switches and corrosion resistant piping; air conditioning and commercial refrigeration; builders' hardware, and architectural materials.

In electrical and electronic products, for example power utilities, telecommunications, business electronics and lighting and wiring devices.

In industrial machinery and equipment, such as in-plant equipment, industrial valves and fittings, nonelectrical instruments, off-highway vehicles, and heat exchangers.

In transportation equipment, including automobiles, trucks and buses, railroads, marine vehicles, aircraft, and aerospace vehicles.

In consumer and general products, such as appliances, cord sets, ordnance, consumer electronics, fasteners, coinage, utensils and cutlery, and miscellaneous items.

In pesticides, insecticides and soil fertilizers.

In alloys (brass, bronze, beryllium-copper). [2]

Handling considerations

Wear appropriate personal protective clothing to prevent skin contact. Wear appropriate eye protection to prevent eye contact. Recommendations for respirator selection.

The worker should immediately wash the skin when it becomes contaminated. Work clothing that becomes wet or significantly contaminated should be removed and replaced. [2]

PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

Molecular weight

63,546 g/mol [3]

Bulk density/Specific gravity

8,94 g/cm3 [2]

pH

 

EC

58 MS/m, 101% IACS, aka. International Annealed Copper Standard (ETP, electrolytic tough pitch copper) [5]

Melting point

1357.77 K (1084.62 °C) [4]

Boiling point

2835 K (2562 °C) [4]

Flash point

non combustible

Flammability

not flammable

Vapour density

5∙1016 - 33.6∙1018  1/m3 in diffuse vacuum arc [6]

Vapour pressure

1 Pa at 1509 K [4]

Solubility in water

not soluble

Solubility in organic solvents

slightly soluble in dilute sulphuric acid or nitric acid and cold hydrochloric acid [2]

slowly soluble in ammonia water [2]

Hydrolysis

 

Ionicity in water

 

Surface tension

σ/mN/m2 = 1497 – 0,174 (T/K) (molten copper) [7]

Dispersion properties

 

Stability and reactivity

Chemical stability

stable (elemental)

stable complex ion (ionic form) [2]

Reactivity hazards

Finely divided copper combined with finely divided bromates of barium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, or zinc will explode with heat, percussion and sometimes light friction.

Mixtures of finely divided copper with chlorates or iodates explode on friction, shock or heating.

Water must be prevented from coming into contact with molten metal to prevent an explosion.

Becomes dull when exposed to air. In moist air gradually becomes coated with green basic carbonate.

Corrosivity

More resistant to atmospheric corrosion than iron, forming green layer of hydrated basic carbonate. [2]

Polimerization

 

Incompatibility with various substances

Incompatible with water, moist air, bromates, chlorates and iodates [2]

Special remarks on reactivity

Explosion with light, heat and percussion. [2]

Physical, chemical and biological coefficients

Koc

 1.6020599913 logL/kg

Kow

-0.571 log L/kg

pKa

 

Henry-constant

 

ENVIRONMENTAL FATE AND BEHAVIOUR

Artificial pollution sources

Natural pollution sources

copper mines, smelting plants

Copper is present in concentration averaging about 4 ppm in limestone, 55 ppm in igneous rocks, 50 ppm in sandstones, and 45 ppm in shale. The marked concentrations of copper in shale and sandstones suggest that copper in the lithosphere exists largely as adsorbed ions, fine grained particles or as one of many discrete sedimentary copper minerals.

General terrestrial fate

top few of centimeters organic spruce forest soils

General aquatic fate

 

General atmospheric fate

 

General persistence and degradability

 

Abiotic degradation and metabolites

 

Biodegradation and metabolites

Chromobacterium violaceum and Pseudomonas fluorescens can both mobilize solid copper as a cyanide compound. A sample of the fungus Aspergillus niger was found growing from gold mining solution and was found to contain cyano complexes of such metals as gold, silver, copper, iron, and zinc. The fungus also plays a role in the solubilization of heavy metal sulfides. [4]

Bioconcentration

The overall mean value and range (mg/kg DM) of copper are 6, 0 and 0, 9-27, 2 in different native plant species from a mountain area of central southern Norway. [9]

Volatilization

 

Photolysis

 

Hydrolysis

 

Soil adsorption and mobility

The fate of copper with respect to its leachability in purely organic spruce forest soils was studied. Appreciable mobilization of copper occurred only with prolonged leaching at pH 2,8. Therefore, it does not appear likely that acidic rainfall will result in significant mobilization of copper from organic soils unless the pH of rainfall decreases to < pH 3. Estimated that approximately 50% of copper in the top few centimeters of these soils was organically bound, approx. 18% was in the hydroxyl-carbonate form, approx. 7% was in the adsorbed state, approx. 11% was bound by other anions and 6% was irreversibly adsorbed. Only 3% of the copper was extractable with water at pH 4, 5; hence only 3% was mobile at this pH. [2]

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCENTRATIONS

Measured data

A study was conducted on the distribution of metals, including copper in the water and sediment of Kelang estuary in 1981. The mean total level of copper was 10, 0 µg/l. The levels of these metals may still be considered safe for aquaculture, if the farm is located at least 10 km away from the river mouth. [2]

ECOTOXICOLOGICAL INFORMATION

General adverse effects on ecosystem

Acute toxicity (LC50, EC50)

Aquatic systems

Terrestrial systems

Sarotherodon mossambica (96 hr) LC50 = 58 mg/L [9]

Chronic toxicity (NOEC, LOEC)

 

Aquatic systems

Terrestrial systems

 

HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS and PROTECTION

Routes of human exposures

Inhalation, skin or eye contact. [2]

General effects

Fumes from the heating of metallic copper can cause metal fume fever, nausea, gastric pain and diarrhoea.

Chronic copper toxicity does not normally occur in humans because of transport systems that regulate absorption and excretion. [4]

Endocrine disruption

 

Mutagenicity

In a test, mice were gavaged for six consecutive days with either water, 33,2 mg/kg iron, or 8,5 mg/kg copper. On the 7th day, the neutral and alkaline comet assays in whole blood and the bone marrow micronucleus (MN) test were used as genotoxicity and mutagenicity endpoints, respectively. Copper induced the highest mutagenicity as evaluated by the MN test. [10]

Carcinogenicity

not carcinogen [8]

Reprotoxicity

 

Teratogenicity

 

Skin, eye and respiratory irritations

 

 

 

 

 

 

Metabolism:

absorption, distribution & excretion

Inhalation of copper fume can cause irritation in the upper tract of respiratory system.

Contact with copper fume may also cause irritation of the eyes.

Copper or copper salts may cause itching, redness, swelling or allergic contact dermatitis when contact with the skin. [2]

Exposure limits

Immediately dangerous to health: 100 mg/cu m (copper dust or mist) [2] or 100 mg/m3 [4].

Drinking water MAC

 

Other information

dietary needs

 

Copper is an essential trace element in plants and animals, but not all microorganisms. The human body contains copper at a level of about 1,4-2,1 mg/ kg of body mass. [4]

Animal toxicity data

Acute toxicity (LD50)

Oreochromis niloticus (96-h): LD50= 58 mg/l [4]

Chronic toxicity (NOEL, LOEL)

Oncorhynchus mykiss (NOEC = 17.9 µg/l [11]

ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

EINECS regulation

 

OSHA regulations etc.

 

 

NIOSH regulations

PEL (permissible exposure limit) for copper dust and fumes in the workplace as TWA (time-weighted average): 1 mg/m3.

REL (recommended exposure limit) as TWA: 1 mg/m3. [4]

OTHER INFORMATION, SPECIAL REMARKS

Atomic properties

Atomic radius

Covalent radius

Van der Waals radius

Electronegativity (Pauling scale)

Oxidation states of elemental form

Ionization energies

1st

2nd

3rd

Complexation

Heat of vaporization

Heat of fusion

Molar heath capacity

Isotopes

naturally occurring

artificial

Magnetic ordering

Mohs’ hardness

Specific resistance

Thermal conductivity

Electrical resistivity

Naming

Discovery

 

128 pm (empirical)

132±4 pm

140 pm

1,90

-2, +1, +2 (cupric cation), +3, +4

 

745,5 kJ/mol

1957,9 kJ/mol

3555 kJ/mol

Complexing agent, coordination numbers 2 and 4.

300,4 kJ/mol

13,26 kJ/mol

24,440 J/(mol∙K)

 

63Cu (69, 09%), 65Cu (30, 91%)

9 known, including 64Cu and 67Cu

diamagnetic

3,0

1,673 µOhm/cm

401 W/(m∙K)

16.78 nΩ·m (at 20 °C)

after Cyprus, the principal mining area in Roman era

Middle East (9000 BC) [2], [4]

CREATED, LAST UPDATE

27th of May, 2018

 

29th of May, 2018

 

REFERENCES

[1] PubChem

https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/cupric_ion

[2] TOXNET

https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search2/f?./temp/~BYkgom:3

[3] European Chemicals Agency https://echa.europa.eu/substance-information/-/substanceinfo/100.028.326

[4] Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper

[5] Sciencing

https://sciencing.com/conductivity-copper-6307070.html

[6] G. Lins: Collisional transfer and neutral copper vapour density during a diffuse vacuum arc,  Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 23, No. 7

[7] D. A. Harrison, D. Yan, S. Blairs: The surface tension of liquid copper, The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, Vol. 9, Pages 1111-1119, 1977

[8] GSI Environmental

https://www.gsi-net.com/en/publications/gsi-chemical-database/single/140-copper.html

[9] P. Pandari Reddy, R. Jagadeshwarlu, G. Sunitha Devi: Determination of lethal concentration (LC50) of copper to Sarotherodon mossambica, International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies 2016; 4(1): 172-175

[10] Prá D., Franke SI., Giulian R., Yoneama ML., Dias JF., Erdtmann B., Henriques JA.: Genotoxicity and mutagenicity of iron and copper in mice, Biometals, 21(3), 289-97, 2008

[11] P. van Sprang, K. Delbeke: Acute and chronic ecotoxicity of  soluble copper species in view of hazard classification of copper and copper compounds https://echa.europa.eu/substance-information/-/substanceinfo/100.028.326