Lead

Lead is a very useful metal, and is used in our everyday lives. Lead was the first metal that man ever smelted and used, and still plays a major part in our modern society. The chemical symbol of lead “Pb” actually comes from the latin word “plumbum” which means pipes. The most common use of lead is in the lead-acid batteries. Lead plates are submerged in a bath of sulfuric acid, which causes a reaction, building up electrical energy that can be released on demand as electricity. Lead-acid batteries were invented by French physicist Gaston Planté in 1859, and were the world’s first rechargeable battery. Lead-acid batteries are cheap and have a high power-to-weight ratio, making it the best option for car batteries.

Another popular use of lead is in bullets. Modern bullets originated from simple lead balls, loaded into muskets. Musketeers melt lead and pour them into spherical moulds to make bullets. As the power of the propellant, the gunpowder, increased, the lead balls tend to smear and deform in the barrels of the guns, causing chunks of lead to be stuck in the rifling of the guns that might lead to explosions in the gun. A metal jacket was wrapped around the bullet to prevent that from happening. Modern bullets have two components, the core, made out of lead, the jacket, made out of copper. The property of lead that makes it favourable to be made and used as bullets are that it is a very malleable metal, which allows it to be easily moulded, and makes it stay in the shape of the mould very well. This lets the bullet be as identical as possible to the mould, making it more balanced and aerodynamic (provided the mould is of proper dimensions and in good condition). Lead is a heavy metal, which means that more energy would be transferred into the target upon impact compared to other, lighter metals if they were made into bullets. Lead is also a soft metal, which makes the bullet mushroom upon impact, creating a larger entry and exit wound, which inflicts more damage onto the target.

Although lead has many uses, lead is also a harmful element. Forty thousand American toddlers suffer from lead poisoning per year. Elements like calcium and zinc are important elements in our bodies. Calcium builds up our bones, and zinc is essential to the operation of our nervous system. Lead mimics the chemical properties calcium and zinc upon entering the human body, and would not be detected as harmful substances by our bodies. It would then be absorbed and enters your bloodstream. The blood, carrying lead, would enter your organs and destroy them. The most common consequence of lead poisoning is brain damage. The most common ways of getting lead poisoning are inhaling or ingesting lead. Lead dust can get airborne and get inhaled by us. Lead stimulates our taste buds, and it would trigger our brain to sense sweetness, which means that children might ingest the harmful element without knowing.