Thread: Pros and Con of making a copper spaceship

I know they use aluminum because it's lightweight.

What if they used copper?

This is neither Astronomy NOR Cosmology.

pros: it shure would be purdy. Lets go all out and use gold.

MODERATOR NOTE : Probably best suited to the Engineering section. Moved.

This is, like the majority of lorbo's threads, utter bullshit.
1) Copper is too ductile to be used as a structural material.
2) If weight saving - as indicated by the comment on aluminium ¹ - is the aim then it should be noted that:
Steel - 7.8 g/ cm³
Aluminium - 2.7 g/ cm³
Copper - 8.9 gm/ cm³
i.e. a weight INCREASE.

It should also be noted that, in a large number of cases where aluminium is used structurally, it's nothing at all to do with "lighter material" because to achieve the same strength 3 times as much of it is needed. Which brings it up to the same weight as steel. The saving is that, given three times the thickness then each component becomes sufficiently stiff enough to not require internal bracing: leaving out THOSE means that - overall - the entire thing is lighter.

1 I refuse to call it "aluminum".

Copper helps kill bacteria and prevent the spread of infections (like superbugs in hospitals), so you won’t have to scrub down your ship’s interior as often.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

1 I refuse to call it "aluminum".

It was good enough for Sir Humphrey Davy (after he realised that alumium was silly). You wouldn't insist on platinium, would you.

Originally Posted by Strange

It was good enough for Sir Humphrey Davy (after he realised that alumium was silly).

He was an indecisive git.

You wouldn't insist on platinium, would you.

I wouldn't insist on Hafnum, Gallum, Potassum or Sodum either!

Another con is that Copper is over 4 times more expensive per oz.

Originally Posted by Janus

Another con is that Copper is over 4 times more expensive per oz.

Well I'll be sneaky, and buy it by the tonne instead.

Originally Posted by lorbo

I know they use aluminum because it's lightweight.

What if they used copper?

Pros - the copper would heal all your ills.
Cons - if you parked it downtown, someone would steal it and sell it to a junkyard for the copper.