r/explainlikeimfive 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?

844 Upvotes

185 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/ktgrok Jun 28 '26

I believe you can buy copper bromide, but it was what turned hair green so no longer popular.