In ancient times, the metal copper was found in abundance on Cypress, an island country in the Mediterranean.
The country was a major exporter of the metal to the other parts of the world. It is from Cypress that copper gets its name.
Copper was the first metal that man attempted to shape and mould. One of the greatest discoveries of the ancient man was the knowledge that a harder alloy metal, bronze, could be produced by adding tin to copper. This discovery led the human race to the Bronze Age.
Besides gold, copper is the only metal in the periodic table whose colouring is not naturally silver or grey. Shiny and reddish, copper was the first metal that man learned to manipulate, and it remains one of the most important metals in the world today.
Copper is one of the few metals that occur in nature in their directly useable form. A key metal in industry, copper is used for electrical wiring, plumbing and roofing.
The atomic number of copper is 29, and the atomic symbol is Cu.
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