A Marvelous Prospect

Have you ever considered the mineral/element copper and its characteristics? Copper is an element – there is a copper atom, as opposed to being made of two or more other elements. It’s fairly abundant, and hence cheap (compared to gold, say). It was easy to get to in places, evidently, as it’s a primary element in bronze. You remember the prehistoric “Bronze Age” don’t you?

Here’s the amazing thing – something I noticed as I was plugging my iPod into the computer this morning, and I had to twist the connector around to get it aligned right. Copper is ductile. It’s relatively light (atomic weight 29) versus iron’s 26, silver’s 47, and gold’s 79. It is second only to silver with respect to electrical conductivity among elements (the respective conductivities of silver, copper, gold, aluminum, and iron are: 63, 59, 45, 37, 0.1).

God gave us copper, and it was sitting here in the crust of our earth waiting to be discovered and used in the most amazing ways. What would our lives look like today without copper wire? Radically different, I suggest. It has an amazing suite of characteristics that make it extremely useful for 1000′s of uses in things electrical – ductility, weight, conductivity, malleability.

Try to imagine life without copper, and thank God for our creative minds (made in his image) that have allowed us to discover and use it, and for the bounty and incredible cohesiveness of his creation.