Chemical element · Atomic number 29
Copper
Copper in the periodic table: atomic number 29, electron configuration, atomic mass, physical data, oxidation states, media credit and visible sources.
Transition metal
solid
63.55 u
Documented element sampleA documented sample of elemental copper.
Image credit: James St. John
Auto-oriented, limited to 1600 × 1200 pixels and re-encoded as WebP; the subject was not altered.
Atomic classification
Shell occupancy
Copper in the Bohr shell model
This shows the electron distribution of the neutral atom in a simplified shell model.
- K · n=1
- 2 electrons
- L · n=2
- 8 electrons
- M · n=3
- 18 electrons
- N · n=4
- 1 electron
- Electron configuration
- [Ar]4s1 3d10
- Electrons per shell
- 2 · 8 · 18 · 1
- Group
- 11
- Period
- 4
- Block
- D
- Element category
- Transition metal
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Physical and chemical properties
- Atomic mass
- 63.55 u
- Standard state
- solid
- Density
- 8.933 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 1,357.77 K
- Boiling point
- 2,835 K
- Electronegativity
- 1.9 (Pauling)
- First ionisation energy
- 7.726 eV
- Oxidation states
- +2, +1
- Discovery
- known since antiquity
Safety and periodic classification
Safety
Safe handling cannot be inferred from Copper's position in the periodic table alone. Laboratory, classroom and disposal decisions must follow the documentation for the exact material and its safety data sheet.
Position and comparison
Copper is in period 4, group 11 and the D block. Its direct neighbours by atomic number are Nickel and Zinc. The recorded Pauling electronegativity is 1.9. Periodic trends are compared only through the separately sourced neighbouring values.
Sources and scope
PubChem attributes element data to sources including IUPAC, NIST and IAEA. Quanta stores the referenced snapshot locally and leaves unknown values unavailable.