Category Chemistry

We have discussed the harmful effects of lead at length now. But why was lead widely used despite its hazardous impact? Undoubtedly, it was because lead was a useful metal. Let us now look at some of the usages of lead.

In the olden days, lead was used as a building material. It was used as a pigment for glazing ceramics. Water pipes were coated with lead. Today, the most prominent use of lead is to build lead-acid storage batteries. The electrical systems of vehicles, ships, and aircraft depend on such batteries for startup, and in some cases, batteries provide the actual motive power.

Have you heard of sound-proof rooms? Lead is used for soundproofing office buildings, schools, and hotels. It is widely used in hospitals for protection against X-ray and gamma radiation. Lead is also employed as a shield against harmful nuclear radiation.

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Earlier, lead was mixed in petrol for better performance. Lead was useful in helping the car engines better. If the petrol in the car burns too quickly, the engine starts rattling. Adding lead to petrol minimized wear and tear. But it created more problems than the benefits it offered.

Lead was poisonous and burning leaded petrol was a suicidal idea. It also increased pollution considerably. Studies conducted in different parts of the world proved that unleaded petrol caused much lesser pollution than leaded petrol. So, many countries have banned the use of petrol with lead added to it, and now only unleaded petrol is used.

Different additives have now replaced the lead compounds. The most popular additives include aromatic hydrocarbons, ethers and alcohol. However, fuel containing leads continue to be sold for off-road uses, including aircraft, racing cars, farm equipment, and marine engines in some parts of the world.

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The usage of lead has a history of more than a thousand years. Humans have mastered the technique of extracting lead from its ores for more than a thousand years. Lead is hardly found as a free metal in nature.

The main ore of lead is lead sulphide, which is also known as Galena. Galena is crushed to a fine powder, and then mixed with water and some other chemicals. As a result of this, the lead sulphide will float to the top in the form of froth, and the waste rock will sink to the bottom. The froth is then dried and mixed with limestone to remove the sulphur from the lead sulphide. This leaves behind lead oxide.

The lead oxide is further crushed and heated in order to obtain molten lead after removing the oxygen molecules. It is purified further to make it ready for sale.

There is no doubt about the importance of lead in the lives of ancient humans. It was used to make pipes, vessels and a lot of other things. However, lead was also looked at with fear; this metal was vital in many torture mechanisms that were used to punish criminals.

In the Middle Ages, lead was used as an instrument of torture. Hot molten lead was poured into the ears of anyone suspected to be against the religious beliefs of the time. This was because lead melts easily. In Venice, prisoners were held in an attic with a lead roof that would make the cells unbearably hot in summer and unbearably cold in winter. Their screams of agony could be heard all day even outside the prison!

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To find one gram of silver, you need to drill through at least 20 tons of rock! Silver makes up only a tiny proportion of the Earth’s crust. Silver indeed is a rare metal.

Silver is found either as a free metal, or in combination with other elements. We can extract silver from silver ores; the most prominent silver ore is asanthite or argentite. Lead sulphate or Galena is another important source of silver. The principal sources of silver are the ores of copper, copper-nickel, lead, and lead-zinc obtained from Peru, Mexico, China, Australia, Chile, Poland and Kosovo. Peru and Mexico have been mining silver since 1546 and are still major world producers of this lustrous metal.

About 18,000 tons of silver are produced every year. But extracting silver is a tough process. A lot of it comes from the waste left behind after refining copper, lead or zinc. Although silver is relatively scarce, it is the most plentiful and least expensive of the precious metals.

The ancient Roman Empire is known for its magnificent wealth and rich culture. Despite all their glory, many Romans died young. After scientific enquiries, it was concluded that many Romans died young because of poisoning. This happened because they used one metal without knowing about its hazardous effects.

Lead was one of the most popular elements in ancient Rome. They used plates and vessels made of lead. Even water pipes were made of lead. The water in the pipes reacted with lead to form lead carbonate, capable of causing many chronic diseases. Many people died of various ailments and the Empire steadily declined, all without the Romans having any idea of what went wrong.

Of course, there were other reasons too for the decline of the Roman Empire, but it is still believed that lead played an important role in its downfall and collapse.

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