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| An attractive red-gold metal that is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, easily worked and resistant to corrosion.
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Cylinder.
This cylinder was cast from melted-down electrical cables, which are made of reasonably high-purity copper. The dimple on this cast cylinder of copper nicely demonstrates this metal's slight increase on density when it freezes. Copper melts at just over 1,000 degrees centigrade which is just within the limit of most small electric furnaces. The element's high thermal conductivity means that you can direct a very hot flame at the surface for several seconds and yet touch the heated spot with a bare finger immediately. The heat is very rapidly distributed throughout the mass of the cylinder.
Source: Scrap yard
Size: 1.5"
Purity: 99%
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Roofing nails.
Copper sheets are a very high quality roofing material, and will last virtually forever as long as they are nailed down with copper nails. Use of other metals can lead to electrolytic corrosion of the sheeting or nails, greatly accelerating the failure of the roof..
Source: Hardware store
Size: 1.25"
Purity: >95%
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1500-pair telephone cable.
Back in the last century (the 20th), huge bundled cables like this one carried telephone conversations. This 1500 pair (3000 wire) cable could carry, naturally, 1500 simultaneous conversations. A modern optical fiber can carry ten or more times as many conversations (or their data equivalent) in a diameter equal to a single pair of these copper wires. Hence the fact that they were in the scrap yard.
Source: Scrap yard
Size: 4"
Purity: 99%
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Native copper.
Copper is one of the few elements that occur in pure form in nature. This "native", or naturally occurring, copper is from the Lake region of Michigan state, an area that has been mined for copper since antiquity.
Source: Michigan
Size: 2"
Purity: >95%
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