Copper is a chemical element with symbol Cu (from Latin: cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal. Copperworks spirits, with a spectacular view of our copper stills. opper is generally considered to be a soft metal, meaning it can be worked without heating. Over a period of working the metal in this way it can “work-harden”. This means that the molecules within the copper are compressed and irregular in their arrangement. This causes stress in the metal and eventually cracking the metal along these stress points.