Everything we touch in public is probably going to be made out of copper and brass in the next few years because it self-disinfects. The near future is going to look kind of steampunk. amirite?

The world would smell like coins, since copper reacts with the fat you have on your skin

by Anonymous 5 years ago

At last, I now have an excuse for eating bacon everyday

by Anonymous 5 years ago

You didn't before? What kind of sad world do you live in?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Heartburn

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Did someone say bacon?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Oh, so that's how it "disinfects". I guess I shouldn't have laughed at those dudes hoarding old pennies a decade ago.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Pennyworld

by Anonymous 5 years ago

NileRed?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Yup.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Very unlikely. Brass is twice as expensive as steel, and a much softer metal.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Why is brass so expensive?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Brass is made from copper and zinc. Copper is expensive as it's a damn fine conductor. It gets stolen anywhere it's not nailed down... Or even if it is nailed down, it still gets stolen

by Anonymous 5 years ago

to the extent that some even climb utility poles to steal the cooper wires.-

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I've always wondered -- how in the world does someone fence obviously stolen copper wire? Who buys it? Is it melted down then sold? Or just stripped of the shielding?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

It depends on how professional the thieves are. Often they just put it in a pile and set it on fire letting the insulation burn away. Then they bring it to a dodgy dealer who melts and resells it.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Thanks; makes sense. Never considered burning away the insulation.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

If you ever see a massive green flame in a field people are doing just that. Some scrap dealers while buy copper of just about anybody.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Or like any scrap yard. Scrap yards dont ask questions.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

there are lots of sources for cooper so it's really hard to check the origin of it, you can melt it, you can probably handle it to some recycling plant through the backdoor too, there's probably people on craigslist with the equipment willing to buy and melt it themselves.- not necessarily the one stealing is the one dealing with it as long as you don't ask question to the seller, you are okay, tools, bycicles, etc are stolen and sold all the time and are much more identifiable than just wire.- Good luck trying to prove that *that wire* is *your (stolen) wire.-*

by Anonymous 5 years ago

My dad works in construction and I spent a summer stripping wire and selling it to reputable recycling places. I've literally never been asked the source of my wire when selling it.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I live in Tulsa and some professionals literally stole the copper wire out of the streetlights on a highway, disguised as an electrical crew working on them. They stole probably 5-10 miles worth of streetlight wiring.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Oh wow. Wonder what that works out to in dollars

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I'll try to find the article about it for you.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I learned about fences from Skyrim :)

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I'm not sure about other countries but in the UK we have scrap yards. You generally require ID but it's quick and easy cash.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I would strip copper wire and scrap it at my local scrapyard when I was homeless. Good money if you give ID and wait 3 days at a legitimate place, half the price no questions asked on the spot at a not so legitimate one.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Sometimes I wish someone would steal the buried copper phone line from the 70's that my internet goes through just so frontier will be forced to replace it and I can have decent internet finally

by Anonymous 5 years ago

You know what you have to do...

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Up until recent design trends, brass was very common in door knobs, railing, etc

by Anonymous 5 years ago

So you just line steel with a microscopically thin layer of it. This ain't rocket science.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

No it's called "metallurgy" and your proposal isn't as easy as you might expect. Copper plating stuff is not that difficult, but it oxidizes rapidly and quickly becomes green or even black and then it just rubs off.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I'll have you know that I'm an 11th level metallurgist in all of my fantasies, so yes this would be in fact easier than I imagine.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Touché

by Anonymous 5 years ago

actually, according to what you just said, it would be *harder* than you imagine

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Have you ever seen a statue everyone touches? The outermost layer just jets erased. Layering is still a solution, but microscopically thin? A layer of about 1-2 cm should be sufficient.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

2 cm is almost an inch, which is excessive. You would only need a coating of a few Millimeters. The copper coating on pennies is way less than 1 mm. The outer layer isn't "erased" lmao. Brass tarnishes, people touch the tarnished surface repeatedly, the tarnish (oxide layer) is slowly worn off.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

and with that, there goes your plating too.-

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Pennies get handled and worn and ground against other coins constantly. I have yet to see one with significant wear.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

That's because banks will send them to US mint for destruction before they reach that point. Same with dollar bills and other coins.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Would it be possible to instead coat things in brass most of it would be then made of a cheaper metal but the surface would still disinfect itself

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Naw copper is really expensive and oxidizes quickly and reacts with electricity a lot and is just not as good as stainless steel for most surfaces. But God damn if I don't love a gorgeous patina.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Can't wait for copper toilet seats in public toilets.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

There won't be toilet seats where we're going.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

After the great Toilet paper famine of 2020, society has switched to a alternative method of cleaning our bums.  I give you..the three sea shells.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

This guy doesnt know how to use the 3 seashells

by Anonymous 5 years ago

We are going to India?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

No no, not that far. Just the forest.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

This caught me offguard.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Ah, China.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Cant wait for copper hole in the grounds

by Anonymous 5 years ago

That sounds pretty uptown.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

And those seats would be stolen in 24 hours or less.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Copper poisoning

by Anonymous 5 years ago

That sounds very cold.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Me to. Finally something worth stealing

by Anonymous 5 years ago

*laughs in meth head*

by Anonymous 5 years ago

My butt just puckered thinking about sitting on a cold copper toilet.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Probably not though

by Anonymous 5 years ago

It is probably cheaper to keep buildings things as we do now, just clean them more

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Not likely since copper is expensive and brass tarnishes quickly - high maintenance.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Does it?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Yeah- look it up. It's pretty cool actually. Basically, the electrons in copper are way more fluid that those in other metals, which ionizes and destroys the viral RNA. Or something like that.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

How?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I don't fully understand it. If you look up "copper coronavirus" the first article explains it better than I could

by Anonymous 5 years ago

The hospital I worked at had brass door knobs and push plates. It was built in 1890.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Hell yeah, I love steampunk

by Anonymous 5 years ago

This is one reason hospitals in the UK have seen a huge rise in bugs. They replaced the door handles to plastic and the floors from linoleum.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Is there any article about this?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Clearly you have no idea how much copper costs and that it is an already stretched resource.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I want this XD

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Is that why in Cubic Castles there is a steampunk set at the moment?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Self disinfecting surfaces, yes. Copper and brass probably not. Titanium dioxide added to plastic or other materials works well for instance, but it needs UV. Some stainless steel works as well. There are other options.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

no, nothing will change.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I'm for a future that looks like the Imperium from warhammer 40k.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I'm hyped.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Whoa.. like the Dwemer in Marrowind.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Not in NYC my friends. The bums and the punks will steal it all right after it's installed...

by Anonymous 5 years ago

There's also the possibility of everything being covered in titanium dioxide. It disinfectants itself in the presence of light, and it's already widely used as a pigment (it makes paint white.)

by Anonymous 5 years ago

No coppers to expensive to be used like that

by Anonymous 5 years ago

You know, I was wondering about this. What other kinds of surfaces are self-disinfecting?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I hope you're right!

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Wouldn't mind it

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Try nanoparticles instead.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Nanomachines, Son!

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Awe, you're assuming anyone will do anything. How sweet.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

It is the way.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

You haven't looked at the price of copper lately, have you? That stuff's too valuable for building wires and circuit boards out of to waste on doorknobs.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Everything is chrome in the future!!

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I think OP's concept is correct. Whether or not it will be copper or some man-made material is the question.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I want a full Cooper phone now. Signal and dents and discoloration be damned.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Everything will be stolen sooner or later.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I'd love that to happen!

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Brilliant!

by Anonymous 5 years ago

"probably", sureee

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I like brass

by Anonymous 5 years ago

nope

by Anonymous 5 years ago

I'm super cool with this!

by Anonymous 5 years ago

That is the healthiest way to prepare punk

by Anonymous 5 years ago

You're assuming people are going to learn from this. I find that highly likely.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

We're not that smart

by Anonymous 5 years ago

So unless someone gets right on inventing hypoallergenic copper, the world is about to get a lot less accessible.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

How does copper and brass disinfect?

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Well this would be unfortunate. I happen to be allergic to copper.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

in the future everything is chrome

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Gosh I hope so

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Not bad, copper and brass look nice, they are warm and colorful.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

Even the humans themselves...wait...oh no...  SCP-217 HAS BREACHED CONTAINMENT

by Anonymous 5 years ago

This is what I want now. More than anything.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

No it won't. WAY too expensive. Places won't pay for it.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

We've had antimicrobial plastics for years now so likely more of that too.

by Anonymous 5 years ago

No coppers to expensive for that

by Anonymous 5 years ago