The unique and diverse properties of copper ensure that this metal is fully integrated into our daily lives. When we turn on a light, the electricity that illuminates it flows through copper wires. Almost every electrical appliance or device relies on copper for its power supply, from the power cord of your appliance, to the circuit board of your smartphone or tablet, to the electric motor of your washing machine – copper is silently and invisibly making these marvelous inventions work efficiently, and at a lower cost than they would otherwise.
In the arts, in the form of sculpture, ornamentation, as a base metal in jewelry, with gold or silver plating on top, and in medicine, in the form of anti-arthritis bracelets, bacteria-killing doorknobs, armrests, and pulls, all use this amazing metal.
In the animal kingdom, the blood of many aquatic creatures is copper-based, not iron. Creatures like octopuses, crabs, lobsters and shrimp rely on the copper in their blood to deliver life-giving oxygen to the cells of their bodies.
