Copper is a useful material in plumbing and other industries.
It’s also commonly used in jewelry to make certain pieces more affordable.
Because of its wide-scale use, you may wonder if copper has magnetic properties or not.
Here’s what you need to know about copper and whether it’s magnetic.
Is Copper Magnetic?
Copper is not magnetic in the sense that if you hold a magnet over something made of copper, it will stick to it.
That said, copper does have some magnetic properties.
In particular, it plays an important role with electricity and eddy currents.
When a magnet draws close to copper, it creates an electrical eddy current.
Eddy currents repel magnets.
As such, with enough of a magnetic field, you could cause a magnet to float above copper.
That said, because it has very weak magnetic properties, copper is not said to be magnetic.
Why Is Copper Not Magnetic?
Because copper has an unpaired electron, one might first think that it should have magnetic properties.
This isn’t the case for copper, however.
That’s because of how the copper atom arranges itself with other copper atoms.
In a magnetic material, the unpaired electrons of the atom move from one valence shell to the next and spin freely.
This flowing of electrons creates a magnetic dipole.
Copper atoms do something a bit different.
When two or more copper atoms come together, their electrons end up going into a cloud.
As a result, the atoms form metallic bonds together.
This makes copper diamagnetic which means it repels magnets, albeit not powerfully.
Will A Magnet Stick To Copper?
Because copper is a metal, you may wonder if a magnet can stick to something made of copper.
No, a magnet cannot stick to copper.
That’s because copper is the opposite of being magnetic.
If anything, it repels magnets.
Depending on the size of the copper and magnet, you may even be able to create an experiment in which the magnet will float.
The best way to get that result is to get a copper tube and a magnet in the shape of a ball.
When you insert the ball into the copper tube, if the magnetic field is strong enough, it will hover inside the tube.
A magnet will never stick to something made of copper.
How To Tell If An Item Uses Real Copper
Copper has a lot of important qualities in plumbing, electrical work, and jewelry.
To ensure you’re buying the real deal and not something fake, it helps to know how to tell copper from other types of metals.
Here are a few methods you can use and tests you can perform to determine if something is copper or not.
1. Examine Its Color
One of the first tests you can perform to determine if something is copper or not is to look at its color.
Copper has an almost sort of caramel tone to it.
It looks reddish-brown.
When examining the color of the item, you should consider the color of a newly-minted penny.
That’s copper at its finest.
As copper ages, it starts to darken.
It might turn into a darker brown, a darker shade of yellow, or even a darker shade of orange.
No matter how much it darkens, it tends to stick to those hues of color.
A common material that often becomes confused with copper is brass.
However, you can tell the difference between the two by examining their color.
While copper has a more reddish-brown shade to it, brass leans towards yellow.
Some may even say brass looks a bit more like gold.
At the very least, it’s always brighter than copper.
When trying to tell if something is real copper or not, look for a reddish-brown hue.
Brand new copper will have a pinkish tone to it.
2. Magnet Test
Another great way to tell if something is real copper or not is with a magnet.
Because copper isn’t magnetic, a magnet shouldn’t stick to it.
This makes testing something to determine if it’s real copper or not extremely easy.
For example, if you’re shopping in a jewelry store or a flea market, you can easily bring a small magnet with you.
Then you can run the magnet over the piece to see if it sticks.
If it does stick, then you know that the item isn’t real copper.
Or, at the very least, it only has copper plating.
For example, something that is made of iron but has a copper plate over it will stick to the magnet.
That’s because iron, in particular, has a very strong magnetic field.
Even with copper trying to repel the magnet, the strong magnetic field of iron will attract the magnet to it.
This informs you that the item you’re looking at has, at the very least, a copper plate on it.
It may even just have copper paint on it.
Using a magnet is a great way to test whether something is real copper or copper-plated.
3. Water Exposure
You may have once wondered why the Statue of Liberty is green.
She wasn’t always green.
She’s covered in copper plates.
Copper turns a blue-green color when exposed to water, air, and light.
Since the Statue of Liberty is on an island surrounded by water, the copper became exposed to it and started to oxidize.
Through the oxidizing process, it turned a different color.
You can also use this process to determine if something is copper or not.
Keep in mind that you’re basically making the copper rust without the actual rust.
As such, if you want to test it on a piece that you need to use or on a jewelry piece, then you need to take care.
For example, if you want to test a piece that you want to use for some form of application, it’s worth cutting a small section off for your testing purposes.
If you are testing a jewelry piece, you should perform the test in a small area that won’t be visible to others.
The inside of a ring or the back of a necklace are both ideal locations.
To perform the test, you need to either soak the copper or drop some water on its surface.
Then let it dry out in the sun.
You may need to perform this test a few times to see any changes.
You can also speed things along by using lemon juice instead of water.
It will quickly make the copper oxidize.
If you see it start to turn blue or green, you know it’s real copper.
4. Electricity Test
One reason why copper is popular in the use of electronics is that it conducts electricity well.
This test requires a bit of electrical and math knowledge.
Since you’re going to be passing an electric current through the piece, it can also be dangerous if you don’t know how to safely handle electricity.
You’ll need to get an ohmmeter for this test.
An ohmmeter tests a material’s electrical resistance.
Each material has a specific electrical resistance.
For copper, its electrical resistance is 1.7 x 10^-8 ohm-meters.
This is the result that you want to get.
To get a result, you first need to attach the ohmmeter to the piece you’re testing.
Then you’ll want to take the reading that ohmmeter gives you and multiply it by the cross-sectional area of the item.
Then you need to measure the length of the item.
Once you know the length, you’ll take the product that you got from multiplying the cross-sectional area and divide it by the length of the item.
This should give you a sum of 1.7 x 10^-8 ohm-meters if it’s copper.
If it doesn’t give you that sum, perform the test two more times to ensure you’re doing everything right.
If the sum still doesn’t match, the material isn’t real copper.
While this test requires a bit of math and science, it is a great way to determine if the material is copper or something else.
5. Sound Test
If the idea of using electricity causes you some concern, you can always try the sound test instead.
Copper has a very distinct sound compared to other metals.
While other metals tend to have a clear, light, bell-like sound, copper doesn’t.
Copper tends to have a lower pitch and is quite deep and mellow.
To conduct the sound test, all you need to do is strike the copper with an object.
You’ll want to refrain from using another metallic object as this can confuse the sound that you’re hearing.
Wood and stone are both great tools to use.
When you strike the material, listen for a deep and mellow sound.
If it sounds too much like a bell, it probably isn’t copper.
You can also make it easier to distinguish by having other pieces of metal with you.
By striking them as well, you can hear a clear difference between each one.
Once you hear those, it will be easier to determine whether what you’re hearing is copper or one of the metals that you just struck.
You can also get a piece of copper that you know, for sure, is real copper.
By striking that, you can get a sense of what copper sounds like.
Then you can test the material and determine if it sounds like the copper you just struck or something else.
Because copper has a unique sound to it, you can often use sound to determine if it’s real copper or something else.
6. Texture Test
Another unique feature of copper is its texture.
Copper is a very soft material.
It’s also difficult to make fully smooth due to its tendency to bend if it’s thin.
You can use your finger to trace over the material and feel for deformities.
For example, there may be slight bubbles or raised parts of the material.
There may also be areas that feel a bit rough to your finger.
This indicates that it’s likely copper since it isn’t the easiest metal to make smooth.
Another thing you can even do, if you don’t mind ruining part of the piece, is to bend it.
Because copper is so soft, if you have a thin sheet of it, you can bend it with nothing more than your hands.
The thicker that the copper is, the harder it is to bend.
However, with some tools, you might be able to bend a thick copper piece.
That’s why, if you get a flattened penny, it’s so easy to bend it.
You can always remove a small section of the piece and try to bend it.
If it bends relatively easily, there’s a good chance that the material is real copper.
7. Density Test
Like electrical resistance, copper also has a specific density.
You can calculate the density of the item that you have to determine if it’s the same as copper’s density.
Copper has a density of 8.96 g/cm3.
To calculate the density of your object, you’ll need to first weigh the object.
Then you’ll need to divide the object’s weight by its volume.
Calculating an object’s volume can become a bit messy.
It all comes down to the shape of the object.
The easiest volume you can calculate is a cube.
The formula for the volume of a cube is multiplying the length, width, and height together.
If the shape is a cylinder, then you need to throw in pi.
There are plenty of online calculators that you can use to help you determine what formula you should use to calculate its volume.
Once you have that volume, divide the weight by it.
The resulting answer is the density of the material.
If the density matches or is very close to the density of copper, then it’s real copper.
However, if the density is different than copper, it isn’t real copper.
Finally, if the density is only a bit off from copper’s, it might have some copper in it.
It might also have different alloys in it.
Calculating the material’s density can be a great way to determine if it’s real copper or not.
8. Float Test
While most metals are denser than water, there are a few that are less dense than water.
This means that they’ll float on top of the water’s surface.
Copper is denser than water.
Since it’s denser, it sinks in water.
You can use this test to ensure that copper is real.
Simply fill a glass or bowl with water, then drop the material or object inside of it.
If it sinks, there’s a good chance that it’s copper.
However, copper isn’t the only dense metal.
Gold, for example, also sinks to the bottom of a glass or bowl filled with water.
The main metals that are less dense than water include:
- Lithium
- Potassium
- Sodium
The problem with those metals is that they’re also highly reactive.
If you were to place them, in their pure form, in water, it’d either burn at the top of the water or explode.
However, if your object sinks to the bottom of the glass, then you know that it isn’t made out of lithium, potassium, or sodium.
What Does Fake Copper Look Like?
The last thing you want to do is buy a new set of copper cooking pots and pans only to discover that they’re not real copper.
Copper can become expensive, and it’s easy to get scammed.
To avoid becoming a victim of a scam, it’s worth knowing what fake copper looks like.
In most cases, brass is often passed off as copper.
It has a similar shade to copper, but if you were to inspect it closer, you’d see that its color is a bit yellower than real copper.
If the object uses something like iron with a copper plate, you can use a magnet to determine if it’s fake.
A magnet will stick to an object made of iron even if it has a copper plate on it.
By using these tools, you can identify fake copper.
Conclusion
Copper is not magnetic because of how it interacts with its own atoms.
In fact, copper ends up repelling magnets if it has a strong enough magnetic field to do so.
You can use magnets, and a few other methods, to tell the difference between real copper and fake copper.
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