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copper, metallic chemical element; symbol Cu [Lat. cuprum=copper]; at. no. 29; at. wt. 63.546; m.p. 1,083.4°C; b.p. 2,567°C; sp. gr. 8.96 at 20°C; valence +1 or +2. Copper and some of its alloys have been used by humanity since the Bronze Age. One of the first metals known to humans, free copper was probably mined in the Tigris-Euphrates valley as long ago as the 5th cent. B.C. Cyprus, from which the metal's name originally comes, was the primary source of copper in the ancient world.
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