When was the disinfection mechanism of copper and silver discovered?
Archeological excavations show, that people have been using copper for more than 11.000 years and have been using silver for more than 5000 years. Copper can be easily extracted and processed. More dan 7000 years ago people developed a copper extraction mechanism for copper ores. The Roman empire gained most of its copper from Cyprus, the isle that gave copper its name. Nowadays copper is mainly extracted form ores, such as cuprite (CuO2), tenorite (CuO), malachite (CuO3·Cu(OH)2), chalcocite (Cu2S), covelite (CuS) and bornite (Cu6FeS4). Large deposits of copper ores have been found throughout the US, Chili, Zambia, Zaïre, peru and Canada. Silver can be obtained from pure deposits, from silver ores such as argenite (Ag2S) and horn silver (AgCl) and combined with ore deposites that contain lead, gold or copper. Both copper and silver have been applied for centuries because of their biocidal mechanism. The Vickings used copper strings on their ships to prevent the growth of algae and shel
