Copper
and Iron
There
is a strange duality between these two metals. For example, for iron
to be hardened, it has to be heated. We have all seen either the
images or reality of the blacksmith working in the heat of the forge.
Copper, on the other hand, is weakened by heat. To be hardened, the
metal must be cool. So bronze is hardened by hammering it when the
metal is cold. Another duality can be seen when they burn. When oxides
of iron burn, we see red and orange, one end of the spectrum. When
copper burns, we see greens and blues – towards the other end of the
visible spectrum.
Another
important duality is electricity and magnetism. Iron is magnetic,
copper is conductive. We may remember from our schooldays, seeing iron
filings scattered on to a piece of paper above a magnet. The iron
filings form into the lines of force caused by the magnet. Copper,
conversely, is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. That is
why we have copper-bottomed saucepans, and electricity is conducted
along copper wires.
Electricity
and magnetism are inseparable. An electric motor throws off a magnetic
field. A dynamo on a bicycle, containing a magnet, generates enough
electricity to light the lamp (if we pedal hard enough. The third
necessary ingredient here is movement.)
Another
significant difference between copper and iron is that iron is a base metal,
whereas copper is a noble metal. Base metals extract oxygen from the air or
water to form oxides. The rust which forms on iron exposed to the air is a
compound of iron and oxygen. Copper does not rust, so it does not lock up
oxygen in the way that iron does. Archeologists have found copper and bronze
items that have lain under the sea for over 2000 years, since the Bronze
Age. Iron implements do not last so long.
The
element iron is relatively plentiful in the Earth’s core. As that
iron moves, the Earth’s electromagnetic field is generated. That
field permeates all of life on Earth, and charges the groundwater as
it rises to the surface.
However,
a piece of metallic iron, such as an iron tool, has a different
magnetic orientation from the Earth's magnetic field, and may disturb
it. Not only that, iron has the ability to cause sparks, which copper
does not. Each spark represents a discharge, a drain of energy.
Cultivation
with copper or iron tools
In
1982 Mr A.P. Tabraham of St Mary’s published a small book he had written, Solar
Energy and Dowsing in the Isles of Scilly. It tells of his
researches into the cultivation of an early-flowering variety of narcissus.
However, the implications of this fascinating little book reach far beyond
narcissus cultivation in the Scilly Isles.
The
Soleil d’Or narcissus used to flower in late November to early December,
ahead of the rest of the market. The farmers achieved this early flowering
by spreading straw on the ground and burning it in the summer before
planting the bulbs. If left to its own devices without the burning, the
narcissus would flower at the end of January. Nobody knew why burning had
such an effect, but it clearly did.
Over
time, the practice of burning was too much work, and so it was abandoned.
The Soleil d’Or no longer reached London two months early. Mr Tabraham
started to research less labour-intensive ways of reintroducing it, so that
the Scilly Isles flower farmers could recapture the early market. He is also
a dowser, and his first breakthrough came when he found that he could detect
the burnt area with his dowsing rods, even after a year. This started him
off into a whole new area of inquiry.
One
phenomenon that he recorded is of particular interest.
After the burning and bulb planting, the tidy farmers ridged up their
bulbs with tractor-drawn equipment. Their narcissi did not flower early, but
those of the untidy farmers, who did no such work, did. It was as if the
iron equipment negated the effect of the burning. Mr Tabraham investigated
this further. He set iron nails and spikes into the ground, and detected
that the dowsing effect disappeared in a six-foot radius of the piece of
iron. The soil in that area was drained of energy. The longer the piece of
iron stayed in the ground, the longer the effect lasted.
This
becomes significant when one considers recent thinking in Soil Science. It
is now considered that energy transfer in the soil is an important process
for plant growth. A
modern textbook of soil
science has this to say about the importance of energy transfer in
the soil:
“Cation
exchange joins photosynthesis as a fundamental life-supporting process.
Without this property of soils terrestrial ecosystems would not be able to
retain sufficient nutrients to support natural or introduced vegetation,
especially in the event of such disturbances as timber harvest, fire, or
cultivation.”
(A
cation is a positively charged electrical particle.) This gives even more
significance to Mr Tabraham's researches, and starts to give an
explanation for the remarkable results from Viktor Schauberger's researches
with copper implements in the 1940's. In these trials, alternate strips
in the same fields were cultivated with copper-plated and conventional steel
ploughs. The strips cultivated with the copper-plated ploughs gave
higher yields than those cultivated with conventional steel ploughs. In the
light of the above, it seems possible that the iron implements drained the
valuable energies which otherwise could have nourished the plants under
cultivation.
______________________________
The
Bronze Age
Copper,
silver and gold were the first metals to be used in the ancient world.
There are records of copper tools being used in Egypt as far back as
4000 BCE.
From
about 2500 BCE, bronze was widely used in Europe and the Middle East,
from Scandinavia to Spain, from Ireland to Greece. It was used to make
weapons, ornaments and tools. In Homer’s Iliad, Achilles fights with
a bronze sword.
Because
there are few written records from Bronze Age Europe, it is not easy
to have a clear view of the world at that time. The archaeological
record shows that there were many small communities, that these were
largely self-sufficient and that people were not long-lived. This
would suggest a primitive, hand-to-mouth existence.
But
there are various clues that this is not the whole picture. First,
bronze-making is a complicated process. Copper was mined and separated
from its impurities by smelting. As the melting point of copper is
1083 degrees Celsius, purpose-built furnaces were required. Tin, a
rarer metal, was extracted and similarly smelted. Then the two metals
were melted again, and combined in the correct proportions. It has
been found that tools with a sharp cutting edge, such as sickles, had
less tin (3-4%) than harder-wearing tools, such as axes (6-7%). So the
sickles could be sharpened regularly, and the axes would stand up to
hard work. This shows a good understanding of the properties of the
alloy.
Secondly,
in 1992 a large bronze-age boat was discovered near Dover. It was 30
feet long, and clearly intended for cross-channel transport. In
Langdon Bay near Dover, another boat was discovered in 1974. This boat
contained bronze axes originating from France, apparently being sent
to Britain for recycling. This also implies a high level of
cooperation between supposedly simple communities.
It
was a different world. One archaeological clue which interests the
writer, is that female burials were frequently more lavish than male
ones.
______________________________
Copper
and Health
Human
health
Many
people know about the role of iron in human nutrition. If there is not
enough of it in our diet, we tire easily and become pale and anaemic.
But what about copper?
Whereas
iron, broadly speaking, governs stamina, copper is to do with energy
generation within the human body. It is present in 20 enzymes, mainly
involved with the way the body gives us energy to function. It is also
involved in the functioning of the nervous system, and helps the body
to transport and absorb iron. It is very important in pregnancy. It
plays a part in the growth of the baby in the womb and immediately
after birth.
It
is naturally present in seafood (especially shellfish), red meat
(especially liver), potatoes, beans and peas, nuts, grains and leafy
vegetables. A balanced diet containing these foods will give the body
enough copper for its daily needs.
Plant
health
Copper
performs a similar function in plant growth, being a constituent of
several enzymes. Its role is mainly to do with energy transfer, from
the roots to the leaves, flowers and fruit. Copper helps plants to
resist disease such as powdery mildew. It is a component of several
organic compounds, including Bordeaux Mixture. With insufficient
copper, growth is retarded and cereal crops do not form so many
grains.
High
concentrations of nitrogen in the soil, for example where fertilizer
is applied, give rise to a lot of leafy growth. Leaves that would
otherwise die, fall to the ground and decompose, stay on the plant for
longer. In the process, copper that has been absorbed by the plant is
locked up in these leaves. This has been found to lead to symptoms of
copper deficiency in plants.
the metal iron and the male gender are the same .