Building material is material used for construction . Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay , rocks , sand, wood , and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings and other structures, like bridges . Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-made products are in use, some more and some less synthetic. The manufacturing of building materials is an established industry in many countries and the use of these materials is typically segmented into specific specialty trades, such as carpentry , insulation , plumbing , and roofing work. They provide the make-up of habitats and structures including homes .
98-472: The Prominent Hill Mine is a major copper , silver , and gold mine in north west South Australia , 130 km south-east of Coober Pedy , which was developed by Oxiana Limited , later to become OZ Minerals , and now owned by BHP . The deposit is an iron oxide copper gold style mineralisation. The mine, which cost A$ 1.15 billion to develop, was projected to produce 100,000 tonnes of copper and 115,000 ounces of gold in concentrates per year. As of 2018,
196-573: A Gilman reagent . These can undergo substitution with alkyl halides to form coupling products ; as such, they are important in the field of organic synthesis . Copper(I) acetylide is highly shock-sensitive but is an intermediate in reactions such as the Cadiot–Chodkiewicz coupling and the Sonogashira coupling . Conjugate addition to enones and carbocupration of alkynes can also be achieved with organocopper compounds. Copper(I) forms
294-469: A beaver 's lodge. These were variously named wikiups , lean-tos, and so forth. An extension on the brush building idea is the wattle and daub process in which clay soils or dung , usually cow , are used to fill in and cover a woven brush structure. This gives the structure more thermal mass and strength. Wattle and daub is one of the oldest building techniques. Many older timber frame buildings incorporate wattle and daub as non load bearing walls between
392-505: A breccia containing host rock clasts ( dolomite , sandstone , andesite ) which is intensively hematite , chlorite and sericite altered. Major sulfide minerals are pyrite , chalcopyrite , bornite and chalcocite . Copper Copper is a chemical element ; it has symbol Cu (from Latin cuprum ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity . A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has
490-561: A ceramic material. Fired bricks can be solid or have hollow cavities to aid in drying and make them lighter and easier to transport. The individual bricks are placed upon each other in courses using mortar . Successive courses being used to build up walls, arches , and other architectural elements. Fired brick walls are usually substantially thinner than cob/adobe while keeping the same vertical strength. They require more energy to create but are easier to transport and store, and are lighter than stone blocks. Romans extensively used fired brick of
588-696: A covalent character and are relatively weak. This observation explains the low hardness and high ductility of single crystals of copper. At the macroscopic scale, introduction of extended defects to the crystal lattice , such as grain boundaries, hinders flow of the material under applied stress, thereby increasing its hardness. For this reason, copper is usually supplied in a fine-grained polycrystalline form, which has greater strength than monocrystalline forms. The softness of copper partly explains its high electrical conductivity ( 59.6 × 10 S /m ) and high thermal conductivity, second highest (second only to silver) among pure metals at room temperature. This
686-636: A nickel ) consists of 75% copper and 25% nickel in homogeneous composition. Prior to the introduction of cupronickel, which was widely adopted by countries in the latter half of the 20th century, alloys of copper and silver were also used, with the United States using an alloy of 90% silver and 10% copper until 1965, when circulating silver was removed from all coins with the exception of the half dollar—these were debased to an alloy of 40% silver and 60% copper between 1965 and 1970. The alloy of 90% copper and 10% nickel, remarkable for its resistance to corrosion,
784-407: A pinkish-orange color . Copper is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material , and as a constituent of various metal alloys , such as sterling silver used in jewelry , cupronickel used to make marine hardware and coins , and constantan used in strain gauges and thermocouples for temperature measurement. Copper is one of the few metals that can occur in nature in
882-425: A spin of 3 ⁄ 2 . The other isotopes are radioactive , with the most stable being Cu with a half-life of 61.83 hours. Seven metastable isomers have been characterized; Cu is the longest-lived with a half-life of 3.8 minutes. Isotopes with a mass number above 64 decay by β , whereas those with a mass number below 64 decay by β . Cu , which has
980-399: A blast furnace. A potential source of copper is polymetallic nodules, which have an estimated concentration 1.3%. Like aluminium , copper is recyclable without any loss of quality, both from raw state and from manufactured products. In volume, copper is the third most recycled metal after iron and aluminium. An estimated 80% of all copper ever mined is still in use today. According to
1078-459: A blue crystalline penta hydrate , the most familiar copper compound in the laboratory. It is used in a fungicide called the Bordeaux mixture . Polyols , compounds containing more than one alcohol functional group , generally interact with cupric salts. For example, copper salts are used to test for reducing sugars . Specifically, using Benedict's reagent and Fehling's solution the presence of
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#17330857125491176-478: A decline portal in the pit wall to access a deposit removed from the main one. Resources of the deposit are 152.8 Mt at 1.18% Cu, 0.48 g/t Au and 2.92 g/t Ag plus 38.3 Mt at 1.17 g/t Au of non-sulfide ore. In contrast to the Olympic Dam deposit, an iron oxide copper gold deposit of similar age about 200 km to the southeast of Prominent Hill, uranium values do not exceed 150 ppm and therefore uranium recovery
1274-709: A directly usable metallic form ( native metals ). This led to very early human use in several regions, from c. 8000 BC . Thousands of years later, it was the first metal to be smelted from sulfide ores, c. 5000 BC ; the first metal to be cast into a shape in a mold, c. 4000 BC ; and the first metal to be purposely alloyed with another metal, tin , to create bronze , c. 3500 BC . Commonly encountered compounds are copper(II) salts, which often impart blue or green colors to such minerals as azurite , malachite , and turquoise , and have been used widely and historically as pigments. Copper used in buildings, usually for roofing, oxidizes to form
1372-476: A garden. This was much more prevalent in pre-industrial times, when laws existed as to the amount of wood one could cut at any one time to ensure there would be a supply of timber for the future, but is still a viable form of agriculture. Bricks are made in a similar way to mud-bricks except without the fibrous binder such as straw and are fired ("burned" in a brick clamp or kiln ) after they have air-dried to permanently harden them. Kiln fired clay bricks are
1470-457: A green patina of compounds called verdigris . Copper is sometimes used in decorative art , both in its elemental metal form and in compounds as pigments. Copper compounds are used as bacteriostatic agents , fungicides , and wood preservatives . Copper is essential to all living organisms as a trace dietary mineral because it is a key constituent of the respiratory enzyme complex cytochrome c oxidase . In molluscs and crustaceans , copper
1568-495: A half-life of 12.7 hours, decays both ways. Cu and Cu have significant applications. Cu is used in Cu Cu-PTSM as a radioactive tracer for positron emission tomography . Copper is produced in massive stars and is present in the Earth's crust in a proportion of about 50 parts per million (ppm). In nature, copper occurs in
1666-683: A layer of brown-black copper oxide which, unlike the rust that forms on iron in moist air, protects the underlying metal from further corrosion ( passivation ). A green layer of verdigris (copper carbonate) can often be seen on old copper structures, such as the roofing of many older buildings and the Statue of Liberty . Copper tarnishes when exposed to some sulfur compounds, with which it reacts to form various copper sulfides . There are 29 isotopes of copper. Cu and Cu are stable, with Cu comprising approximately 69% of naturally occurring copper; both have
1764-497: A method based on the ‘maturity concept’ i.e. taking in consideration both time and temperature of cement hydration reaction. Recent work on aging of lignocellulosic materials in the cement paste showed hydrolysis of hemicelluloses and lignin that affects the interface between particles or fibers and concrete and causes degradation. Bricks were laid in lime mortar from the time of the Romans until supplanted by Portland cement mortar in
1862-532: A natural color other than gray or silver. Pure copper is orange-red and acquires a reddish tarnish when exposed to air. This is due to the low plasma frequency of the metal, which lies in the red part of the visible spectrum, causing it to absorb the higher-frequency green and blue colors. As with other metals, if copper is put in contact with another metal in the presence of an electrolyte , galvanic corrosion will occur. Copper does not react with water, but it does slowly react with atmospheric oxygen to form
1960-401: A permanent village to accommodate the workforce and construction of a haulage road, power line and bore field. There are two underground mines accessed through the open pit. The Malu mine extends vertically below the bottom of the open pit. The Ankata mine opened in 2012 and is about 2 km west of the main mine. Ankata means dragon lizard in a local indigenous language. It is accessed from
2058-407: A red-brown precipitate with copper(II) salts. Compounds that contain a carbon-copper bond are known as organocopper compounds. They are very reactive towards oxygen to form copper(I) oxide and have many uses in chemistry . They are synthesized by treating copper(I) compounds with Grignard reagents , terminal alkynes or organolithium reagents ; in particular, the last reaction described produces
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#17330857125492156-451: A rich variety of compounds, usually with oxidation states +1 and +2, which are often called cuprous and cupric , respectively. Copper compounds promote or catalyse numerous chemical and biological processes. As with other elements, the simplest compounds of copper are binary compounds, i.e. those containing only two elements, the principal examples being oxides, sulfides, and halides . Both cuprous and cupric oxides are known. Among
2254-957: A shape and type now called Roman bricks . Building with brick gained much popularity in the mid-18th century and 19th centuries. This was due to lower costs with increases in brick manufacturing and fire-safety in increasingly crowded cities. The cinder block supplemented or replaced fired bricks in the late 20th century often being used for the inner parts of masonry walls and by themselves. Structural clay tiles (clay blocks) are clay or terracotta and typically are perforated with holes. Cement bonded composites are made of hydrated cement paste that binds wood, particles, or fibers to make pre-cast building components. Various fiberous materials, including paper , fiberglass , and carbon-fiber have been used as binders. Wood and natural fibers are composed of various soluble organic compounds like carbohydrates , glycosides and phenolics. These compounds are known to retard cement setting. Therefore, before using
2352-410: A structure is the energy consumed to extract, manufacture, deliver, install, the materials. The lifetime embodied energy continues to grow with the use, maintenance, and reuse/recycling/disposal of the building materials themselves and how the materials and design help minimize the life-time energy consumption of the structure. Social costs are injury and health of the people producing and transporting
2450-408: A variety of building applications, including load-bearing, filling, insulating, and plastering materials. These materials vary in structure depending on the formulation used. Plant fibres can be combined with binders and then used in construction to provide thermal, hydric or structural functions. The behaviour of concrete based on plant fibre is mainly governed by the amount of the fibre constituting
2548-424: A variety of minerals, including native copper , copper sulfides such as chalcopyrite , bornite , digenite , covellite , and chalcocite , copper sulfosalts such as tetrahedite-tennantite , and enargite , copper carbonates such as azurite and malachite , and as copper(I) or copper(II) oxides such as cuprite and tenorite , respectively. The largest mass of elemental copper discovered weighed 420 tonnes and
2646-436: A variety of weak complexes with alkenes and carbon monoxide , especially in the presence of amine ligands. Copper(III) is most often found in oxides. A simple example is potassium cuprate , KCuO 2 , a blue-black solid. The most extensively studied copper(III) compounds are the cuprate superconductors . Yttrium barium copper oxide (YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 ) consists of both Cu(II) and Cu(III) centres. Like oxide, fluoride
2744-499: A wood in making cement bonded composites, its compatibility with cement is assessed. Wood-cement compatibility is the ratio of a parameter related to the property of a wood-cement composite to that of a neat cement paste. The compatibility is often expressed as a percentage value. To determine wood-cement compatibility, methods based on different properties are used, such as, hydration characteristics, strength, interfacial bond and morphology. Various methods are used by researchers such as
2842-476: Is a generic building material and is used in building just about any type of structure in most climates. Wood can be very flexible under loads, keeping strength while bending, and is incredibly strong when compressed vertically. There are many differing qualities to the different types of wood, even among same tree species. This means specific species are better suited for various uses than others. And growing conditions are important for deciding quality. "Timber"
2940-579: Is a constituent of the blood pigment hemocyanin , replaced by the iron-complexed hemoglobin in fish and other vertebrates . In humans, copper is found mainly in the liver, muscle, and bone. The adult body contains between 1.4 and 2.1 mg of copper per kilogram of body weight. In the Roman era , copper was mined principally on Cyprus , the origin of the name of the metal, from aes cyprium (metal of Cyprus), later corrupted to cuprum (Latin). Coper ( Old English ) and copper were derived from this,
3038-405: Is a highly basic anion and is known to stabilize metal ions in high oxidation states. Both copper(III) and even copper(IV) fluorides are known, K 3 CuF 6 and Cs 2 CuF 6 , respectively. Some copper proteins form oxo complexes , which, in extensively studied synthetic analog systems, feature copper(III). With tetrapeptides , purple-colored copper(III) complexes are stabilized by
Prominent Hill mine - Misplaced Pages Continue
3136-401: Is because the resistivity to electron transport in metals at room temperature originates primarily from scattering of electrons on thermal vibrations of the lattice, which are relatively weak in a soft metal. The maximum possible current density of copper in open air is approximately 3.1 × 10 A/m , above which it begins to heat excessively. Copper is one of a few metallic elements with
3234-483: Is combined with straws to create light clay , wattle and daub , and mud plaster . Wet-laid, or damp, walls are made by using the mud or clay mixture directly without forming blocks and drying them first. The amount of and type of each material in the mixture used leads to different styles of buildings. The deciding factor is usually connected with the quality of the soil being used. Larger amounts of clay are usually employed in building with cob , while low-clay soil
3332-572: Is hard to warm without consuming considerable energy but, once warm, its thermal mass means that can retain heat for useful periods of time. Dry-stone walls and huts have been built for as long as humans have put one stone on top of another. Eventually, different forms of mortar were used to hold the stones together, cement being the most commonplace now. The granite -strewn uplands of Dartmoor National Park, United Kingdom, for example, provided ample resources for early settlers. Circular huts were constructed from loose granite rocks throughout
3430-422: Is less per year. Some materials may require more care than others, maintaining costs specific to some materials may also influence the final decision. Risks when considering lifetime cost of a material is if the building is damaged such as by fire or wind, or if the material is not as durable as advertised. The cost of materials should be taken into consideration to bear the risk to buy combustive materials to enlarge
3528-426: Is lightweight, easily shaped, and an excellent insulator. Foam is usually used as part of a structural insulated panel , wherein the foam is sandwiched between wood or cement or insulating concrete forms. Glassmaking is considered an art form as well as an industrial process or material. Clear windows have been used since the invention of glass to cover small openings in a building. Glass panes provided humans with
3626-529: Is melted in a furnace and then reduced and cast into billets and ingots ; lower-purity scrap is refined by electroplating in a bath of sulfuric acid . The environmental cost of copper mining was estimated at 3.7 kg CO2eq per kg of copper in 2019. Codelco, a major producer in Chile, reported that in 2020 the company emitted 2.8t CO2eq per ton (2.8 kg CO2eq per kg) of fine copper. Greenhouse gas emissions primarily arise from electricity consumed by
3724-591: Is not economical. The mine was part of the sale of its assets by OZ Minerals to China Minmetals , majority-owned by the Chinese state, but was blocked by the Australian Government , which cited national security concerns since Prominent Hill was within a sensitive military area . Subsequently, the sale of the other OZ Minerals mines went ahead after Prominent Hill was excluded, and it became owned by BHP instead. Copper–gold concentrate product from Prominent Hill
3822-444: Is one of the most important constituents of silver and karat gold solders used in the jewelry industry, modifying the color, hardness and melting point of the resulting alloys. Some lead-free solders consist of tin alloyed with a small proportion of copper and other metals. The alloy of copper and nickel , called cupronickel , is used in low-denomination coins, often for the outer cladding. The US five-cent coin (currently called
3920-437: Is recovered from mine tailings and heaps. A variety of methods are used including leaching with sulfuric acid, ammonia, ferric chloride. Biological methods are also used. A significant source of copper is from recycling. Recycling is facilitated because copper is usually deployed in its metallic state. In 2001, a typical automobile contained 20–30 kg of copper. Recycling usually begins with some melting process using
4018-563: Is the home of choice among nomadic groups all over the world. Two well-known types include the conical teepee and the circular yurt . The tent has been revived as a major construction technique with the development of tensile architecture and synthetic fabrics. Modern buildings can be made of flexible material such as fabric membranes, and supported by a system of steel cables, rigid or internal, or by air pressure. Recently, synthetic polystyrene or polyurethane foam has been used in combination with structural materials, such as concrete. It
Prominent Hill mine - Misplaced Pages Continue
4116-411: Is the longest-lasting building material available, and is usually readily available. There are many types of rock, with differing attributes that make them better or worse for particular uses. Rock is a very dense material so it gives a lot of protection; its main drawback as a building material is its weight and the difficulty of working it. Its energy density is both an advantage and disadvantage. Stone
4214-407: Is the purchase price. This is often what governs decision making about what materials to use. Sometimes people take into consideration the energy savings or durability of the materials and see the value of paying a higher initial cost in return for a lower lifetime cost. For example, an asphalt shingle roof costs less than a metal roof to install, but the metal roof will last longer so the lifetime cost
4312-448: Is the term used for construction purposes except the term "lumber" is used in the United States. Raw wood (a log, trunk, bole) becomes timber when the wood has been "converted" (sawn, hewn, split) in the forms of minimally-processed logs stacked on top of each other , timber frame construction, and light-frame construction . The main problems with timber structures are fire risk and moisture-related problems. In modern times softwood
4410-563: Is then air dried and can be laid dry or with a mortar or clay slip . Sand is used with cement , and sometimes lime , to make mortar for masonry work and plaster . Sand is also used as a part of the concrete mix. An important low-cost building material in countries with high sand content soils is the Sandcrete block, which is weaker but cheaper than fired clay bricks. Sand reinforced polyester composite are used as bricks. Rock structures have existed for as long as history can recall. It
4508-543: Is transported in 30-tonne containers by road for 120 km (75 mi) to Wirrida siding on the Adelaide–Darwin rail corridor , where it is railed to Port Adelaide . The deposit is located in the Gawler Craton and it is hosted mainly in a fault zone where Hiltaba Suite granites overthrust a Mesoproterozoic volcano-sedimentary sequence. The age of the mineralisation is about 1.58 billion years. It consists of
4606-465: Is used as a lower-value bulk material, whereas hardwood is usually used for finishings and furniture. Historically timber frame structures were built with oak in western Europe, recently douglas fir has become the most popular wood for most types of structural building. Many families or communities, in rural areas, have a personal woodlot from which the family or community will grow and harvest trees to build with or sell. These lots are tended to like
4704-452: Is used as structural framework for larger buildings such as skyscrapers , or as an external surface covering. There are many types of metals used for building. Metal figures quite prominently in prefabricated structures such as the Quonset hut , and can be seen used in most cosmopolitan cities. It requires a great deal of human labor to produce metal, especially in the large amounts needed for
4802-411: Is used for various objects exposed to seawater, though it is vulnerable to the sulfides sometimes found in polluted harbors and estuaries. Alloys of copper with aluminium (about 7%) have a golden color and are used in decorations. Shakudō is a Japanese decorative alloy of copper containing a low percentage of gold, typically 4–10%, that can be patinated to a dark blue or black color. Copper forms
4900-409: Is usually associated with sod house or sod roof construction. The other main ingredients include more or less sand / gravel and straw /grasses. Rammed earth is both an old and newer take on creating walls, once made by compacting clay soils between planks by hand; nowadays forms and mechanical pneumatic compressors are used. Soil, and especially clay, provides good thermal mass ; it
4998-580: Is very good at keeping temperatures at a constant level. Homes built with earth tend to be naturally cool in the summer heat and warm in cold weather. Clay holds heat or cold, releasing it over a period of time like stone. Earthen walls change temperature slowly, so artificially raising or lowering the temperature can use more resources than in say a wood built house, but the heat/coolness stays longer. People building with mostly dirt and clay, such as cob, sod, and adobe, created homes that have been built for centuries in western and northern Europe, Asia, as well as
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#17330857125495096-675: The British Geological Survey , in 2005, Chile was the top producer of copper with at least one-third of the world share followed by the United States, Indonesia and Peru. Copper can also be recovered through the in-situ leach process. Several sites in the state of Arizona are considered prime candidates for this method. The amount of copper in use is increasing and the quantity available is barely sufficient to allow all countries to reach developed world levels of usage. An alternative source of copper for collection currently being researched are polymetallic nodules , which are located at
5194-588: The Great Lakes may have also been mining copper during this time, making it one of the oldest known examples of copper extraction in the world. There is evidence from prehistoric lead pollution from lakes in Michigan that people in the region began mining copper c. 6000 BC . Evidence suggests that utilitarian copper objects fell increasingly out of use in the Old Copper Complex of North America during
5292-536: The International Resource Panel 's Metal Stocks in Society report , the global per capita stock of copper in use in society is 35–55 kg. Much of this is in more-developed countries (140–300 kg per capita) rather than less-developed countries (30–40 kg per capita). The process of recycling copper is roughly the same as is used to extract copper but requires fewer steps. High-purity scrap copper
5390-624: The Neolithic and early Bronze Age , and the remains of an estimated 5,000 can still be seen today. Granite continued to be used throughout the Medieval period (see Dartmoor longhouse ) and into modern times. Slate is another stone type, commonly used as roofing material in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world where it is found. Stone buildings can be seen in most major cities, and some civilizations built predominantly with stone, such as
5488-648: The Neolithic period and the Bronze Age was formerly termed the Chalcolithic period (copper-stone), when copper tools were used with stone tools. The term has gradually fallen out of favor because in some parts of the world, the Chalcolithic and Neolithic are coterminous at both ends. Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, is of much more recent origin. It was known to the Greeks, but became a significant supplement to bronze during
5586-472: The Vinča culture date to 4500 BC. Sumerian and Egyptian artifacts of copper and bronze alloys date to 3000 BC. Egyptian Blue , or cuprorivaite (calcium copper silicate) is a synthetic pigment that contains copper and started being used in ancient Egypt around 3250 BC. The manufacturing process of Egyptian blue was known to the Romans, but by the fourth century AD the pigment fell out of use and
5684-424: The ecological economics of building materials are green building and sustainable development . The initial energy costs include the amount of energy consumed to produce, deliver and install the material. The long term energy cost is the economic, ecological, and social costs of continuing to produce and deliver energy to the building for its use, maintenance, and eventual removal. The initial embodied energy of
5782-539: The 9th or 10th century AD. Carbon dating has established mining at Alderley Edge in Cheshire , UK, at 2280 to 1890 BC. Ötzi the Iceman , a male dated from 3300 to 3200 BC, was found with an axe with a copper head 99.7% pure; high levels of arsenic in his hair suggest an involvement in copper smelting. Experience with copper has assisted the development of other metals; in particular, copper smelting likely led to
5880-512: The Bronze Age and a shift towards an increased production of ornamental copper objects occurred. Natural bronze, a type of copper made from ores rich in silicon, arsenic, and (rarely) tin, came into general use in the Balkans around 5500 BC. Alloying copper with tin to make bronze was first practiced about 4000 years after the discovery of copper smelting, and about 2000 years after "natural bronze" had come into general use. Bronze artifacts from
5978-554: The Egyptian and Aztec pyramids and the structures of the Inca civilization. Thatch is one of the oldest of building materials known. "Thatch" is another word for "grass"; grass is a good insulator and easily harvested. Many African tribes have lived in homes made completely of grasses and sand year-round. In Europe, thatch roofs on homes were once prevalent but the material fell out of favor as industrialization and improved transport increased
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#17330857125496076-535: The Middle East; a copper pendant was found in northern Iraq that dates to 8700 BC. Evidence suggests that gold and meteoric iron (but not smelted iron) were the only metals used by humans before copper. The history of copper metallurgy is thought to follow this sequence: first, cold working of native copper, then annealing , smelting , and, finally, lost-wax casting . In southeastern Anatolia , all four of these techniques appear more or less simultaneously at
6174-589: The Roman Empire. Building material#Metal In history, there are trends in building materials from being natural to becoming more human-made and composite ; biodegradable to imperishable; indigenous (local) to being transported globally; repairable to disposable; chosen for increased levels of fire-safety, and improved seismic resistance. These trends tend to increase the initial and long-term economic, ecological, energy, and social costs of building materials. The initial economic cost of building materials
6272-456: The ability to both let light into rooms while at the same time keeping inclement weather outside. Glass is generally made from mixtures of sand and silicates , in a very hot fire stove called a kiln , and is very brittle. Additives are often included the mixture used to produce glass with shades of colors or various characteristics (such as bulletproof glass or lightbulbs). The use of glass in architectural buildings has become very popular in
6370-521: The affected areas is highly acidic, with a pH range of 2.1–4.9, and shows elevated electrical conductivity levels between 280 and 1561 mS/cm. These changes in water chemistry make the environment inhospitable for fish, essentially rendering the water uninhabitable for aquatic life. Numerous copper alloys have been formulated, many with important uses. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc . Bronze usually refers to copper- tin alloys, but can refer to any alloy of copper such as aluminium bronze . Copper
6468-531: The atmosphere; 150 mg/kg in soil; 30 mg/kg in vegetation; 2 μg/L in freshwater and 0.5 μg/L in seawater. Most copper is mined or extracted as copper sulfides from large open pit mines in porphyry copper deposits that contain 0.4 to 1.0% copper. Sites include Chuquicamata , in Chile, Bingham Canyon Mine , in Utah, United States, and El Chino Mine , in New Mexico, United States. According to
6566-612: The availability of other materials. Today, though, the practice is undergoing a revival. In the Netherlands, for instance, many new buildings have thatched roofs with special ridge tiles on top. Wood has been used as a building material for thousands of years in its natural state. Today, engineered wood is becoming very common in industrialized countries. Wood is a product of trees , and sometimes other fibrous plants, used for construction purposes when cut or pressed into lumber and timber, such as boards, planks and similar materials. It
6664-734: The beginning of the Neolithic c. 7500 BC . Copper smelting was independently invented in different places. The earliest evidence of lost-wax casting copper comes from an amulet found in Mehrgarh , Pakistan, and is dated to 4000 BC. Investment casting was invented in 4500–4000 BC in Southeast Asia Smelting was probably discovered in China before 2800 BC, in Central America around 600 AD, and in West Africa about
6762-430: The building blocks can be manufactured off site in a centralized location at a brickworks and transported to multiple building locations. These blocks can also be monetized more easily and sold. Structural mud bricks are almost always made using clay, often clay soil and a binder are the only ingredients used, but other ingredients can include sand, lime, concrete, stone and other binders . The formed or compressed block
6860-502: The building industries. Corrosion is metal's prime enemy when it comes to longevity. The term plastics covers a range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic condensation or polymerization products that can be molded or extruded into objects, films, or fibers . Their name is derived from the fact that in their semi-liquid state they are malleable, or have the property of plasticity . Plastics vary immensely in heat tolerance, hardness, and resiliency. Combined with this adaptability,
6958-457: The cement hydrates and eventually hardens into a stone-like material. When used in the generic sense, this is the material referred to by the term "concrete". For a concrete construction of any size, as concrete has a rather low tensile strength , it is generally strengthened using steel rods or bars (known as rebars ). This strengthened concrete is then referred to as reinforced concrete . In order to minimise any air bubbles, that would weaken
7056-527: The company, especially when sourced from fossil fuels, and from engines required for copper extraction and refinement. Companies that mine land often mismanage waste, rendering the area sterile for life. Additionally, nearby rivers and forests are also negatively impacted. The Philippines is an example of a region where land is overexploited by mining companies. Copper mining waste in Valea Şesei, Romania, has significantly altered nearby water properties. The water in
7154-522: The deprotonated amide ligands. Complexes of copper(III) are also found as intermediates in reactions of organocopper compounds, for example in the Kharasch–Sosnovsky reaction . A timeline of copper illustrates how this metal has advanced human civilization for the past 11,000 years. Copper occurs naturally as native metallic copper and was known to some of the oldest civilizations on record. The history of copper use dates to 9000 BC in
7252-454: The depths of the Pacific Ocean approximately 3000–6500 meters below sea level. These nodules contain other valuable metals such as cobalt and nickel . Copper has been in use for at least 10,000 years, but more than 95% of all copper ever mined and smelted has been extracted since 1900. As with many natural resources, the total amount of copper on Earth is vast, with around 10 tons in
7350-550: The discovery of iron smelting . Production in the Old Copper Complex in Michigan and Wisconsin is dated between 6500 and 3000 BC. A copper spearpoint found in Wisconsin has been dated to 6500 BC. Copper usage by the indigenous peoples of the Old Copper Complex from the Great Lakes region of North America has been radiometrically dated to as far back as 7500 BC. Indigenous peoples of North America around
7448-648: The early 20th century. Gypsum concrete is a mixture of gypsum plaster and fibreglass rovings . Although plaster and fibres fibrous plaster have been used for many years, especially for ceilings, it was not until the early 1990s that serious studies of the strength and qualities of a walling system Rapidwall , using a mixture of gypsum plaster and 300mm plus fibreglass rovings, were investigated. With an abundance of gypsum (naturally occurring and by-product chemical FGD and phospho gypsums) available worldwide, Gypsum concrete-based building products, which are fully recyclable, offer significant environmental benefits. Metal
7546-409: The early 20th century. Cement blocks also sometimes are filled with grout or covered with a parge coat . Concrete is a composite building material made from the combination of aggregate and a binder such as cement . The most common form of concrete is Portland cement concrete, which consists of mineral aggregate (generally gravel and sand ), portland cement and water . After mixing,
7644-545: The fastest water exchange rate (speed of water ligands attaching and detaching) for any transition metal aquo complex . Adding aqueous sodium hydroxide causes the precipitation of light blue solid copper(II) hydroxide . A simplified equation is: Aqueous ammonia results in the same precipitate. Upon adding excess ammonia, the precipitate dissolves, forming tetraamminecopper(II) : Many other oxyanions form complexes; these include copper(II) acetate , copper(II) nitrate , and copper(II) carbonate . Copper(II) sulfate forms
7742-590: The general uniformity of composition and lightness of plastics ensures their use in almost all industrial applications today. High performance plastics such as ETFE have become an ideal building material due to its high abrasion resistance and chemical inertness. Notable buildings that feature it include: the Beijing National Aquatics Center and the Eden Project biomes. Building papers and membranes are used for many reasons in construction. One of
7840-511: The later spelling first used around 1530. Copper, silver , and gold are in group 11 of the periodic table; these three metals have one s-orbital electron on top of a filled d- electron shell and are characterized by high ductility , and electrical and thermal conductivity. The filled d-shells in these elements contribute little to interatomic interactions, which are dominated by the s-electrons through metallic bonds . Unlike metals with incomplete d-shells, metallic bonds in copper are lacking
7938-419: The level of <1% Cu. Concentration of the ore is required, which begins with comminution followed by froth flotation . The remaining concentrate is the smelted, which can be described with two simplified equations: Cuprous oxide reacts with cuprous sulfide to convert to blister copper upon heating This roasting gives matte copper, roughly 50% Cu by weight, which is purified by electrolysis. Depending on
8036-421: The lifetime. It is said that, "if it must be done, it must be done well". Pollution costs can be macro and micro. The macro, environmental pollution of extraction industries building materials rely on such as mining, petroleum, and logging produce environmental damage at their source and in transportation of the raw materials, manufacturing, transportation of the products, retailing, and installation. An example of
8134-891: The material. Several studies have shown that increasing the amount of these plant particles increases porosity, moisture buffering capacity, and maximum absorbed water content on the one side, while decreasing density, thermal conductivity, and compressive strength on the other. Plant-based materials are largely derived from renewable resources and mainly use co-products from agriculture or the wood industry. When used as insulation materials, most bio-based materials exhibit (unlike most other insulation materials) hygroscopic behaviour, combining high water vapour permeability and moisture regulation. Brush structures are built entirely from plant parts and were used in primitive cultures such as Native Americans and pygmy peoples in Africa. These are built mostly with branches, twigs and leaves, and bark, similar to
8232-507: The materials and potential health problems of the building occupants if there are problems with the building biology. Globalization has had significant impacts on people both in terms of jobs, skills, and self-sufficiency are lost when manufacturing facilities are closed and the cultural aspects of where new facilities are opened. Aspects of fair trade and labor rights are social costs of global building material manufacturing. Bio-based materials (especially plant-based materials) are used in
8330-456: The measurement of hydration characteristics of a cement-aggregate mix; the comparison of the mechanical properties of cement-aggregate mixes and the visual assessment of microstructural properties of the wood-cement mixes. It has been found that the hydration test by measuring the change in hydration temperature with time is the most convenient method. Recently, Karade et al. have reviewed these methods of compatibility assessment and suggested
8428-433: The micro aspect of pollution is the off-gassing of the building materials in the building or indoor air pollution . Red List building materials are materials found to be harmful. Also the carbon footprint , the total set of greenhouse gas emissions produced in the life of the material. A life-cycle analysis also includes the reuse , recycling, or disposal of construction waste . Two concepts in building which account for
8526-538: The mine life was expected to extend to 2030. Oxiana Limited developed the mine from August 2006, having first got involved in the project in 2003 and having bought its partner, Minotaur Exploration Limited in 2005. The mine went into production in February 2009. The mine was opened in May 2009 by South Australian Premier Mike Rann. The development included an open-pit mine , a conventional grinding and flotation processing plant,
8624-407: The modern culture. Glass " curtain walls " can be used to cover the entire facade of a building, or it can be used to span over a wide roof structure in a " space frame ". These uses though require some sort of frame to hold sections of glass together, as glass by itself is too brittle and would require an overly large kiln to be used to span such large areas by itself. Glass bricks were invented in
8722-472: The modern world. The price of copper is volatile . After a peak in 2022 the price unexpectedly fell. The global market for copper is one of the most commodified and financialized of the commodity markets , and has been so for decades. The great majority of copper ores are sulfides. Common ores are the sulfides chalcopyrite (CuFeS 2 ), bornite (Cu 5 FeS 4 ) and, to a lesser extent, covellite (CuS) and chalcocite (Cu 2 S). These ores occur at
8820-516: The numerous copper sulfides , important examples include copper(I) sulfide ( Cu 2 S ) and copper monosulfide ( CuS ). Cuprous halides with fluorine , chlorine , bromine , and iodine are known, as are cupric halides with fluorine , chlorine , and bromine . Attempts to prepare copper(II) iodide yield only copper(I) iodide and iodine. Copper forms coordination complexes with ligands . In aqueous solution, copper(II) exists as [Cu(H 2 O) 6 ] . This complex exhibits
8918-428: The ore, sometimes other metals are obtained during the electrolysis including platinum and gold. Aside from sulfides, another family of ores are oxides. Approximately 15% of the world's copper supply derives from these oxides. The beneficiation process for oxides involves extraction with sulfuric acid solutions followed by electrolysis. In parallel with the above method for "concentrated" sulfide and oxide ores, copper
9016-413: The rest of the world, and continue to be built, though on a smaller scale. Some of these buildings have remained habitable for hundreds of years. Mud-bricks , also known by their Spanish name adobe are ancient building materials with evidence dating back thousands of years BC. Compressed earth blocks are a more modern type of brick used for building more frequently in industrialized society since
9114-715: The secret to its manufacturing process became lost. The Romans said the blue pigment was made from copper, silica, lime and natron and was known to them as caeruleum . The Bronze Age began in Southeastern Europe around 3700–3300 BC, in Northwestern Europe about 2500 BC. It ended with the beginning of the Iron Age, 2000–1000 BC in the Near East, and 600 BC in Northern Europe. The transition between
9212-502: The structure, a vibrator is used to eliminate any air that has been entrained when the liquid concrete mix is poured around the ironwork. Concrete has been the predominant building material in the modern age due to its longevity, formability, and ease of transport. Recent advancements, such as insulating concrete forms , combine the concrete forming and other construction steps (installation of insulation). All materials must be taken in required proportions as described in standards. The tent
9310-438: The sugar is signaled by a color change from blue Cu(II) to reddish copper(I) oxide. Schweizer's reagent and related complexes with ethylenediamine and other amines dissolve cellulose . Amino acids such as cystine form very stable chelate complexes with copper(II) including in the form of metal-organic biohybrids (MOBs). Many wet-chemical tests for copper ions exist, one involving potassium ferricyanide , which gives
9408-535: The timber frames. Snow and occasionally ice, were used by the Inuit peoples for igloos and snow is used to build a shelter called a quinzhee . Ice has also been used for ice hotels as a tourist attraction in northern climates. Clay based buildings usually come in two distinct types. One being when the walls are made directly with the mud mixture, and the other being walls built by stacking air-dried building blocks called mud bricks . Other uses of clay in building
9506-399: The top kilometer of Earth's crust, which is about 5 million years' worth at the current rate of extraction. However, only a tiny fraction of these reserves is economically viable with present-day prices and technologies. Estimates of copper reserves available for mining vary from 25 to 60 years, depending on core assumptions such as the growth rate. Recycling is a major source of copper in
9604-515: Was found in 1857 on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan, US. Native copper is a polycrystal , with the largest single crystal ever described measuring 4.4 × 3.2 × 3.2 cm . Copper is the 26th most abundant element in Earth's crust , representing 50 ppm compared with 75 ppm for zinc , and 14 ppm for lead . Typical background concentrations of copper do not exceed 1 ng/m in
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