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Copper (Cu)

Copper is the 29th element, a transition metal in the d-block. Its standard atomic weight is 63.546.

Period 4Group 11d-blockTransition metal
29Cu

Copper

63.546

What the table records

Atomic number
29
Standard atomic weight
63.546
Group
11
Period
4
Block
d-block
Category
Transition metal
Electron configuration
[Ar] 3d10 4s1
Valence electrons
11
Typical valence
Variable — no single default
Van der Waals radius
2 Å
Covalent radius
1.32 Å

The configuration above is the documented ground state (departs from the aufbau order).

How to read these numbers

The standard atomic weight is an average over the isotopes as they occur naturally, which is why it is rarely a whole number. It is the figure a molar mass calculation uses. Work in mass spectrometry wants the monoisotopic mass of a single isotope instead, which is a different number.

The two radii are not the same measurement. The covalent radius is half the distance between two bonded atoms of the element; the van der Waals radius is how close a non-bonded atom gets before repulsion takes over, and is always the larger. Space-filling models are drawn with the second, ball-and-stick models with the first — which is why the same molecule looks so different in the two.