Pb and No J - GEO 046 *C

GEO 046 *C

Lead Sheet

Class: Elemental

Location: Man-Made

A few days back I posted a "What's Going On" entry where I had you guess what this particular specimen is. What you may notice is that the Sholesonian Identification on this piece is a bit different than others in the Geology collection. You see I didn't quite have a place for this piece to go. If you haven't noticed yet this gray sheet is a slice of some malleable lead (Pb, which stands for the Latin name plumblum). And this specimen doesn't really belong anywhere in the Collections I've set up. It's a man-made sheet so it doesn't quite belong in Geology but seeing as it once came from the Earth I'm going to place it there but create a subsection of pieces of a more Chemical nature.

Some brief information on lead is that it's atomic number is 82 and is a heavy metal. I have to be careful with this specimen as lead poisoning is a serious risk for animals which can lead to nervous system and brain damage. There is a lot of more in-depth chemical information on the lead page. However, for those who want a little more excitement when melted, one can dip their hand in some cold water and then immediately in the molten lead for a short time without any damage. This is due to the Leidenfrost Effect, where the heat from the lead is used to evaporate the water on the hand first creating a thin layer of steam which will protect your hand from burning and poisoning for a very short amount of time. I advise people to not try this but rather check out the MythBusters Molten Lead Experiment instead or this CSI Physics site on the science behind dipping your hands in molten lead. Enjoy!