COPPER HAS a number of very important properties including high ductility, malleability and electrical conductivity, which make it perfect for electrical wiring. It is the best conductor of electricity of all non-precious metals. Electrical uses include power transmission and generation, wire for residential and commercial buildings, telecommunications and electrical products. Although you should never mix water and power, copper tubing is also the most reliable and cost effective choice for distributing water throughout buildings. Due to its high thermal conductivity, the tubing is also used in air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. In addition, copper is used in the high-tech world by the manufacturers of computer chips to link transistors. The use of copper as opposed to aluminium increases the chips’ speed and helps limit heat generation. This is especially important as more circuits are being packed into a single chip with the advancement of technology. The big surprise is the increased use of copper in the manufacturing of cars. There is approximately 25 kg of copper in a typical US-manufactured car, 20 is used for electrical and five for non-electrical components. Due to technological advances in the industry, an average luxury car will contain 1 500 copper wires stretching 1.6 km in length. The new hybrid cars contain about 45 kg of copper.
