Eli5 why is copper so valuable

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Basically the title why is it valuable enough for ppl to steal meters of copper from train rails but the copper wire you get in the store is dirt cheap. I just don’t understand the difference I guess
Edit: damn apparently it’s much more complex than I thought, thanks for all the comments!

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12 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s super useful! Copper has a lot of great electrical and thermal properties that make it great for electronics and plumbing. It’s fairly durable. It’s also pretty easy to work with as far as metals go, so it’s cheaper to manufacture than the alternatives. This makes it a very appealing material to use.

So rather than throw it away a lot of places will pay for scrap copper and recast it into an ingot and either sell it or use it to make something themselves.

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s super useful! Copper has a lot of great electrical and thermal properties that make it great for electronics and plumbing. It’s fairly durable. It’s also pretty easy to work with as far as metals go, so it’s cheaper to manufacture than the alternatives. This makes it a very appealing material to use.

So rather than throw it away a lot of places will pay for scrap copper and recast it into an ingot and either sell it or use it to make something themselves.