THE SCIENCE IN COPPER POTS IS WHY CHEFS PREFER COOKING WITH THEM

Deep in the mix of the culinary arts, you'll find the tastiest and most visually appetising foods each culture has to offer. But, sometimes, even more important than the ingredients are the tools themselves that professional chefs use.

Copper pots have been used to cook with for thousands of years, but there is something quite special about copper pots in comparison to other alloy pots. That's got to do with copper's thermal conductivity – which is its ability to absorb heat from the source, such as a stovetop – and release that heat energy evenly to your food.

This transfer of energy happens via the transfer of free and available electrons in the copper element atom. As it happens, a copper atom has one unpaired electron in its outermost orbit from the nucleus. This free electron has the ability to freely roam from one atom to another in the copper composite when heat is applied. This makes copper an ideal material to use in pot making. It can be relatively thin in design, and still avoid hot and cold spots on the base of the pot, making for a far better and consistent cooking experience.

However, the problem with copper is that it is far more expensive than other materials such as stainless steel. Stainless steel doesn't have the same thermal conductivity as copper, it's actually far worse at transferring heat, so in order to combat this, stainless steel pot makers, therefore, make the base of the pot far thicker. This improves its thermal conductivity, but the pot takes far longer to heat up, although it's far cheaper...

Take a look at the video below by the YouTube channel, Sci Show, on Do You Need A Copper Pot?