What you need to know about copper
Pure copper
Pure copper is a single element copper with a very high purity. It has a rose red color. After pure copper contacts oxide, a purple oxide film is formed on the surface, so it is also called "red copper" or "red copper". Red copper has good thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity and plasticity, and is mainly used in cables and heat dissipation components. We all know that the CPU of a laptop will generate a lot of heat when in use. The heat dissipation device uses red copper to conduct the heat to the heat dissipation fan and blow it out.
Since red copper has a good conductivity, second only to silver, household copper wires are also made of red copper. At the same time, red copper has good plasticity and soft properties, which can facilitate the installation of electricians. Although red copper has good electrical conductivity, it is soft and not strong enough, and is not suitable for use as copper sheets in sockets.
Brass
Ordinary brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, with a yellow surface. If it is a complex alloy composed of other elements in brass, it is called special brass. Brass has good hardness, strong wear resistance and machining resistance, and is mainly used to manufacture air conditioner internal and external unit connection pipes, valves, and water pipes. Brass has strong strength and hardness, which makes it not elastic enough. Therefore, the copper sheet of the power strip made of brass may not be able to touch when plugged into multiple sockets, so brass is not suitable for the copper sheet of the power strip.
White copper
White copper is an alloy of copper and nickel. Its surface is white and very similar to silver. It was also used to make ritual vessels or decorations in ancient times.
White copper and silver are very close in color. Some criminals use silver jewelry as silver jewelry to deceive consumers. So how can ordinary consumers distinguish between silver and white copper? First of all, look at the texture. Silver is heavier and softer, easy to bend but not easy to break. White copper is lighter and harder, not easy to bend; then listen to the sound. The impact sound of silver is duller, and the impact sound of white copper is crisper; finally, silver jewelry is easy to turn black and yellow during wearing. It can be brushed off with toothpaste, but white copper cannot.
Bronze
It is an alloy of copper and tin or lead. Its surface is blue. It was often used to make ritual vessels and bronze swords in ancient times. Bronze is the earliest metal alloy, reflecting the glorious history and culture of our country.
Phosphor bronze
However, there is a kind of bronze that is particularly suitable for making copper sheets for power strips, that is phosphor bronze. Phosphor bronze has good thermal conductivity, is not easy to heat up and has strong fatigue resistance, which can ensure good contact, good elasticity and smooth plugging and unplugging. Phosphor bronze is red, a bit like copper, and can be well distinguished from brass by color, and can be well distinguished from copper by hardness.
Back to the question at the beginning of the article, it can be well judged by color and hardness that the copper sheet used in the power strip must be phosphor bronze, so the netizens' replies are all wrong. However, the copper sheet of the Bull power strip looks a bit like brass, because the color on the copper sheet is yellowish, and it doesn't feel difficult to plug in all the sockets on the power strip, which is very strange.
Because phosphor bronze has good elasticity and fatigue resistance, it is often used to make strings, such as guitar strings.
