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Copper

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Encyclopedia of Geochemistry

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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FormalPara Element Data

Atomic Symbol: Cu

Atomic Number: 29

Atomic Weight: 63.546 u

Isotopes and Abundances: 63Cu 69.15 %, 65Cu 30.85 %

1 Atm Melting Point: 1084.6 °C

1 Atm Boiling Point: 2562 °C

Common Valences: 2+, 1+

Ionic Radii: 1+: fourfold: 60 pm, sixfold: 77 pm; 2+: fourfold: 57 pm, sixfold: 73 pm

Pauling Electronegativity: 1.9

First Ionization Energy: 745.5 kJ mol−1

Chondritic (CI) Abundance: 131 ppm

Silicate Earth Abundance: 20–30 ppm

Crustal Abundance: 27 ppm

Seawater Abundance: 0.4–5 nmol/kg

Core Abundance: 125 ppm

Properties

Copper (Cu) is a reddish metal with an atomic number 29, standard atomic weight of 63.546, and melting point of 1357.8 K at 1 atm. It was moderately volatile during the Earth formation by accretion of solid material condensed from the solar nebula. As a siderophile element, it partitioned into the core during the separation of metallic core from molten silicate...

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Correspondence to Xingcheng Liu or Xiaolin Xiong .

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Liu, X., Xiong, X. (2016). Copper. In: White, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Geochemistry. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_216-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39193-9_216-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39193-9

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