Copper and progress

The hypothesis that without the discovery of the ability to work the copper, the evolution of the human species would have been very different is not so flimsy.

First of all, because copper was the first metal to be worked and this acquired ability paved the way for the research of other metals and for the creation of metal alloys.

Copper has always had a rather “familiar”, domestic destination. Certainly it was not suitable to build powerful weapons for hunting or tools to work the land. Even if, as claimed by many scholars, this metal was widely used by the ancient Egyptians in the construction of impressive architecture.

Crafting copper is easy because this metal is ductile and this quality is the cause of both its great advantage and limits in use. It is certainly ideal for the production of pottery, jewellery and other items not intended for heavy duty.

But its specificity is not limited to this. As a matter of facts, after the first round of applications, with the progress of knowledge copper has been found to have some properties that make it suitable for various uses.

Some of these qualities had already been grasped in ancient times. In some cases, to copper have been attributed almost miraculous properties which, as you can imagine, it doesn’t have.

Today, despite the advanced scientific research and mastery that man possess in the processing of a wide variety of metals and alloys, copper continues to play a leading role and accompanies us in the life of every day.

In almost every place, in every activity we do, in every home, paying a little attention, we may "feel" the presence of copper: just open a faucet to find that the purity of the water that flows is largely due to copper. The electrical wires are made of copper, as well as those intended for telecommunications. Copper is in our food and in our body.

Many of the foods we eat and drink could not be produced with the same quality without the use of tools, machinery and containers made of copper: from cheese to beer, to the stills for the distillation of all kinds of vegetables. On second thought, the variety of uses of this metal is really amazing.

The first metal ever crafted by man (Copper Age), still remains irreplaceable and accompanies us towards the progress and in our daily lives.