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OT Copper kills viruses and bacteria article

I read something similar about the nickle in stainless steel being anti-microbial.

This article does not mention, in fact says stainless is ineffective.
 
Here's some more good news. Make something with a bit of copper in it and suddenly your business qualifies as an essential service, making medically-useful equipment. :)

More seriously and FWIW, several species of wood have also been shown to have anti-microbial properties compared to other surfaces.
 
Interesting, we have a bunch of Schlage "oil-rubbed bronze" door knobs and levers. Base seems maybe a brass.

Zinc has some anti-microbial properties. Don't know if anti-viral as well.
 
Weren't silver coins dropped into milk jugs to kill bacteria ?

Jugs themselves were Silver, Persian Empires onward. Milk stayed fresher, longer. No one knew WHY. It just did.

G'mum's dairying goods were mostly "Monel" - a Cupro-Nickel alloy that also has biocidal tendencies far more effective than "indifferent bystander" Stainless steel.

T'other G'mum had an "ice box" lined with Zinc and a countertop to roll-out baked goods also solid Zinc. Decent biocides, both.

NOW we finally know WHY.

Silver's outer-valence shape physically "fits" the weak covalent-bonded O2 molecule so well it snatches it apart, freeing two very much more aggressively-seeking-a-redox-mate "nascent" Oxygen atoms. Bugs get "burned" so to speak.

As to Copper, it's ions are implicated in weakening the formation of the outer membrane a(ny) cell - plant or animal, either one - needs to "stay in its home bag" and function normally.

Copper doorknobs and hand-pulls even more than brass HAD been widely used on schools and other high-traffic public buildings "of quality" for Donkey's Years.

Until bright-plated, looks-brass but may not-be - then Stainless steel got cheaper.

"Cheaper" eh?

You can guess the rest?

Got it in one: "The American disease"

"We are cheaper than..."

:(
 
Silver also has some anti-bacterial properties.
Tin also.

Almost all of my socks and one t-shirt are made of special fiber with silver fibers. Socks are nothing short of amazing, you can wear them for a week on hiking and they get discustingly stiff but no smell!
 
Copper Kills bacteria

Maybe we'll see commonly touched surfaces such as door knobs, handles, railings etc. made out of copper.Copper Destroys Viruses and Bacteria. Why Isn’t It Everywhere? - VICE

Copper is very rarely used these days in plumbing due to the cost. People want cheap, therefore they are use PVC pipe. The fact that lobbying forced building septs to allow PVC instead of copper is all about cost and that will never change. That's why so many manufactured goods went to China, Mexico, Vietnam, etc. Cheap is cheap and large companies are making more money. Thant unfortunately will never change. But its time to think about things made in this country other than the bamboo umbrella in your cocktail.
 
Yes, the antimicrobial properties of copper alloys is well known and would be the best material for things like hand rails but i think the comment above is probably the truth. Just too "expensive".

If silver is antimicrobial as well it is further evidence that silver is magic.
 
Dunno why this is a surprise

PT lumber, CCA, ACQ, copper

Boat bottom paint, copper

Want to keep stuff from growing on your roof, copper

Not sure if copper door knobs are the answer, and I am pretty sure brass has not enough copper in it, or it is tied up with other elements
 
So if a little is good is a lot better? Do the blue people who drink water with ionized silver never get sick? Wood preservative which is mostly cupric oxide and arsenic is very effective at killing germs and anything else. More than trace amounts of metal oxides can be very poisonous. Copper, chromium, lead, and cadmium all fall into this category.
 
Jugs themselves were Silver, Persian Empires onward. Milk stayed fresher, longer. No one knew WHY. It just did.

G'mum's dairying goods were mostly "Monel" - a Cupro-Nickel alloy that also has biocidal tendencies far more effective than "indifferent bystander" Stainless steel.

T'other G'mum had an "ice box" lined with Zinc and a countertop to roll-out baked goods also solid Zinc. Decent biocides, both.

NOW we finally know WHY.

Silver's outer-valence shape physically "fits" the weak covalent-bonded O2 molecule so well it snatches it apart, freeing two very much more aggressively-seeking-a-redox-mate "nascent" Oxygen atoms. Bugs get "burned" so to speak.

As to Copper, it's ions are implicated in weakening the formation of the outer membrane a(ny) cell - plant or animal, either one - needs to "stay in its home bag" and function normally.

Copper doorknobs and hand-pulls even more than brass HAD been widely used on schools and other high-traffic public buildings "of quality" for Donkey's Years.

Until bright-plated, looks-brass but may not-be - then Stainless steel got cheaper.

"Cheaper" eh?

You can guess the rest?

Got it in one: "The American disease"

"We are cheaper than..."

:(

Great and informative post.
 
How about coolant mist? We breathe that stuff all the time. Can you get viruses that way easily (bacteria seem to enjoy living in it)
 
Anti-bacterial is one thing, anti-viral is completely different.

Made the mistake myself, thinking anti-bacterial soap in current times. No more effective than "regular" soap against viruses.
 








 
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