Lead Essay Introduction

Lead is a harmful environmental pollutant. All people are at risk of lead exposure. About 30 years ago, scientists discovered that children who were exposed to lead through gasoline, dust, and paint were aggressive and had trouble learning in school. Lead can cause many health effects when people don’t pay attention and use precautions. Many people have died from or been diagnosed with lead poisoning. It is believed that Queen Elizabeth I died from lead poisoning. She used lead-based cosmetics which hurt her health and most likely caused her death. President Andrew Jackson also died from a form of lead poisoning called plumbism. Lead is very harmful and people should be serious and take precautions to be safe.

Lead is a metal found in small amounts in Earth’s crust. It occurs in small amounts in ores with other elements such as silver, copper, and zinc. Lead wasn’t discovered by anyone as it was known since the ancient times. Lead is an element in the carbon family and has an atomic number of 82; its symbol is Pb, its atomic weight is 207.2, and its density is 11.342 grams per cubic centimeter. Lead’s melting point is 600.61 K; its boiling point is 2022 K. Lead’s characteristics include: solid, soft, malleable, ductile, poor electricity conductor, resistant to corrosion. It is a blue-whitish metal that oxidizes to a dull gray in air. Lead is the only metal with zero Thompson effect. Even though it’s found in small amounts, lead is very abundant supply throughout the earth. Because of its widespread supply, simplicity to extract and effortlessness to work with, lead is used in a wide variety of products such as the following: paint, pipers, batteries, cosmetics, ceramics, and gasoline. While lead has multiple beneficial uses, it c...

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...fter they play outside, and covering the contaminated soil with cement, gravel, or mulch (this will create a barrier between your children and the soil). In any case that the paint is still noticeable, you should rake all of the paint chips up, mow the grass, dispose of the waste, and install a fence that separates play areas from the lead-contaminated buildings. You should also get a professional to remove the lead paint from the house.

The effects of lead poisoning or being around lead are very dangerous. People should be more careful and go to higher lengths to be safe and aware of the lead that can be surrounding them. This especially is for the sake of the children since they are an easier target and less immune to this because of the fact that their bodies are still growing. Lead is very harmful and people should be serious and take precautions to be safe.