A Look at Lead (Pb)

Lead is a very interesting metal.  It is a very soft, ductile, highly malleable, blush- white lustrous metal, which is relatively poor at conducting electricity. In early centuries, lead was used by the Romans for drains for baths. It is now used in lead-acid batteries for cars, coloring element in ceramic glazes, organ pipes, computer and TV glass screens, sheeting, cables, solders, lead crystal glassware, ammunitions, bearings and as weight in sport equipment.

Pure native lead is rare to find in nature, it is usually found in ore with zinc, silver and copper. The main lead mineral, being mined in Australia, is Galena ( Pbs).  The main mining productions of lead are found in Australia (19%), the USA, China, Peru, and Canada.  Production of new lead per year comes to about 6 million tons out of the believed 85 million tons of workable reserves, but most lead is created by humans through car exhaust.  Lead is used in gasoline and then burned in car engines leading to lead salts of chorines bromines, and oxides to be created and released through the exhaust of cars. With that, Lead has become a pollution problem across the world.

Here is the Article I got my information from:
http://www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/pb.htm

Here is a short video on the History of Lead:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv8Zl5oh-9s

To understand how lead is made here is a quick video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHOp0e4p2DY


To understand the dangers of Lead mining:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8hzua8ISuQ