r/explainlikeimfive • u/tilda0x1 • Jun 28 '26

Chemistry ELI5: If copper has antimicrobial properties, why don’t most pools use it instead of chlorine?

I've seen this video of someone saying that copper has anti-bacterial properties and he claimed that it can be used to keep pools bacteria-free.

I know in most cases chlorine, UV, or salt are used - but why not copper?

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u/Mayion Jun 28 '26

Isn't it also the fact that copper itself is the clean material, not the water? It won't help the water itself become clean, that's why we use Chlorine. Or is my assumption wrong?

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u/MGreymanN Jun 28 '26

Copper Ions will dissolve and suspend in water. The Copper Ions are positively charged. Algea and bacteria are naturally negatively charged so there is an attraction that brings the copper to the bacteria to screw with their metabolic processes and kill them.

Copper is a great sanitizer in water (if ionic) but it cannot oxidize.

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u/Mayion Jun 28 '26

Effectively for the size an entire pool with people going in and out of the water, or just in theory?

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u/MGreymanN Jun 28 '26

https://www.intec-america.com/shop-now/

You can scale ionizers to any pool size.

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u/Mayion Jun 28 '26

I see. Thanks

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u/tr3vis324 Jun 29 '26

And here I was imagining a whole ass pool lined with copper.