Lead

Lead was used as a pigment in lead paint for white as well as yellow and red colors. It was discontinued because of the dangers of lead poisoning. However, lead chromate is still in use.
Lead was the hot metal used in hot metal typesetting.
Lead was used for plumbing in Ancient Rome.
Lead was used as a preservative for food and drink in Ancient Rome.
Lead was used for joining cast iron water pipes and used as a material for small diameter water pipes until the early 1970s.
Tetraethyl lead was used in leaded fuels to reduce engine knocking; however, this is no longer common practice in the Western world due to health concerns.^[22]
Lead has been used to make "clubs" or bats more lethal by melting it into a hole drilled into the top
Lead was used to make bullets for slings.
Lead was used as a component of toys. Due to toy safety regulations, this use has been stopped in the United States.
Lead was used in car body filler, which was used in many custom cars in the 1940s–60s. Hence the term Leadsled.
Lead is a superconductor at 7.2 K and IBM tried to make a Josephson Effect Computer out of lead-alloy.^[23]

Contrary to popular belief, pencil "leads" have never been made from lead. The term comes from the Roman stylus, called the penicillus, which was made of lead.^[24] When the pencil originated as a wrapped graphite writing tool, the particular type of graphite being used was named plumbago (lit. "act for lead"; "leadmocku").

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Phrases

A "lead pipe cinch" is something that is absolutely certain. In the 19th century, a horse saddle was safe when it was well "cinched". The "lead pipe" qualifier is an obscure "intensifier".^[25]

A "lead pencil" is a leftover term from when the original pencils were made from the only known deposit of graphite ever to be found in a pure, solid state, Grey Knotts in 16th century England. The new material was assumed to be a form of lead. Modern pencils use a marking core made of powdered, refined graphite mixed with clay, as has been the practice for centuries.

It is said that if one made a lead balloon, it would not fly. As lead is a very heavy element, it is presumed it will not fly. However, if one achieves the right size-to-weight ratio and uses helium instead of oxygen or air, a lead balloon could fly. This was tested by the MythBusters.

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Trivia

The band Led Zeppelin was originally called lead zeppelin. Keith Moon and John Entwistle suggested that a possible supergroup containing themselves, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck would go down like a lead zeppelin, a term Entwistle used to describe a bad gig.^[26] The group deliberately dropped the 'a' in Lead at the suggestion of their manager, Peter Grant, to prevent "thick Americans"^[27] from pronouncing it as "leed".^[28]

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See also

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References

^ NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service. NSW Health. Retrieved on 7 April 2007.
^ Download: Lead paint: Cautionary note. Queensland Government. Retrieved on 7 April 2007.
^ Lead Paint Information. Master Painters, Australia. Retrieved on 7 April 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Global InfoMine - Lead Mining. GlobalInfoMine. Retrieved on 17 April 2008.
^ Davies, J.R., Wilson, D. & Williamson, I.T. (2004). The geology of the country around Flint. Memoir of the British Geological Survey, Sheet 108. (England and Wales). British Geological Survey, Keyworth.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Samans, Carl H. Engineering Metals and their Alloys MacMillan 1949
^ Primary Extraction of Lead Technical Notes. LDA International. Retrieved on 7 April 2007.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Pauling, Linus General Chemistry, W.H. Freeman 1947 ed.
^ Lead Information. LDA International. Retrieved on 2007-09-05.
^ Lead Statistics. International Lead and Zinc Study Group. Retrieved on 2007-09-05.
^ "How Long Will it Last?" (May 26, 2007). New Scientist 194 (2605): 38–39. ISSN 4079 0262 4079.
^ Brown, Lester (2006). Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble. New York: W.W. Norton, 109. ISBN 0393328317.
^ NIOSH ABLES. United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
^ Endocrine Disruptors and Abnormalities of Pubertal Development, Schoeters G, et al. Basic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology, 102, 168–175, 2008
^ The Pernicious Allure of Lead. New York Times.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Ignasi Puigdomenech, Hydra/Medusa Chemical Equilibrium Database and Plotting Software (2004) KTH Royal Institute of Technology, freely downloadable software at [1]
^ ^a ^b Brady, James E. and Holum, John R. Descriptive Chemistry of the Elements John Wiley and Sons
^ Merck Index of Chemicals and Drugs, 9th ed., monograph 8393
^ Ward, C.H.; Hlousek, Douglas A.; Phillips, Thomas A.; Lowe, Donald F. (2000). Remediation of Firing Range Impact Berms. CRC Press. ISBN 1566704626.
^ Dr. Rooney, Corinne. Contamination at Shooting Ranges (PDF). The Lead Group, incorporated. Retrieved on 7 April 2007.
^ Randerson, James (June 2002). "Candle pollution". NewScientist.com (2348).
^ Countries where Leaded Petrol is Possibly Still Sold for Road Use, as of 22nd February 2007. The Lead Group, incorporated. Retrieved on 7 April 2007.
^ Henkels, W. H.; Geppert, L. M.; Kadlec, J.; Epperlein, P. W.; Beha, H. (September 1985). Josephson 4 K-bit cache memory design for a prototype signal processor.. Harvard University. Retrieved on 7 April 2007.
^ A history of pencils. www.pencils.com. Retrieved on 7 April 2007.
^ Quinion, Michael. lead pipe cinch. World Wide Words. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
^ Keith Shadwick (2005). Led Zeppelin The Story of a Band and their Music 1968-1980, 36, ISBN 100879308710.
^ Stephen Davis (1995). Hammer of the Gods (LPC), 32, 44, 64, 190, 225, 277 ISBN 0330438591.
^ Jimmy Page Online

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Further reading

Keisch, B., Feller, R. L., Levine, A. S., and Edwards, R. R.: "Dating and Authenticating Works of Art by Measurement of Natural Alpha Emitters". In: Science, 155, No. 3767, p. 1238–1242, 1967.
Keisch, B: "Dating Works of Art Through their Natural Radioactivity: Improvements and Applications". In: Science, 160, p. 413–415, 1968.
Keisch, B: "Discriminating Radioactivity Measurements of Lead: New Tool for Authentication". In: Curator, 11, No. 1., p. 41–52, 1968.