Lead - Tales from the Periodic Table

The 82nd element in the periodic table, Lead, has a pretty bad reputation - and deserves it. Although Lead has been used for many many years in a large variety of products, it's been banned from almost all of those applications because of its toxicity. From gasoline, to paint, to solder, to fishing weights and projectiles, Lead is no longer used. It still makes a great shield for radiation and because it's so inexpensive, still finds use there. This is the last of the non-radioactive elements.
Important note! Viewer @jonahansen notes that the size of the Lead cube in the slide at 3:40 into the video is 10 times too small. Upon re-doing the calculations, I agree with @jonahansen that the cube would be 74.7 meters on a side, not 7.5 meters on a side. My apologies for my error. I will attempt to be more accurate in the future. Thank you @jonahansen!

[@glowingone1774]

just found a gem channel

[@ronhipschman]

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying them!

[@sydhenderson6753]

Thomas Midgley destroying the ozone layer strikes me as being somewhat forgivable since nobody could have anticipated that. But his pushing of tetraethyl lead was unforgivable. The hazards of absorbing lead had been known for thousands of years, and he damned well knew it.

[@sydhenderson6753]

I have to wonder at that chart on how elements are produced that lead's production from supernovae seems to decrease then increase. I wonder if that reflects that it is a decay product of thorium and uranium, which are produced in supernovae. I don't remember if you mentioned it, but if you look at a stained glass window, the individual pieces of glass are have gray boundaries. That boundary is lead metal which serves to hold the glass in place. (Or was until we started banning lead.) And, of course, lead can protect Superman from the deadly rays from green kryptonite, and protect our modesty from his x-ray vision. All of which goes, I guess, to show some elements can be contained in a twenty-minute video and others strain to be contained in a 43 minute video. Excellent video.

[@ronhipschman]

I didn't mention stained-glass windows. Thank you for adding it to the comments! Ron

[@perisleaf]

oh my god we finally got to lead this is so awesome.

[@aceofdatabase]

I DO see the prism! Thanks for asking 😄

[@Skizziks_MAD]

Right on, Ron! The exotic elements are fun, but it's good to get one about the more familiar ones. As you mentioned lead has a sweet taste. Those flaking paint chips were like candy to children. Always have your garden soil tested for lead. The tetraethyl from car exhaust can still be found, especially near walls and rain runoff channels. I was still buying leaded gasoline in 1987, as there was a huge stockpile of it leftover from the '70s.

[@ronhipschman]

All great points. The video was getting a bit lengthy, however. Thanks for amplifying additional material here in the comments. Ron

[@greegearl1542]

Bravo! Well done! Excellent introduction to element 82. It surprises me that it took until 2021 to ban leaded gasoline worldwide.

[@ronhipschman]

Thank you! Somehow it does not surprise me it took until 2021. We just experienced the hottest year on record (by a LOT!), but we can't burn fossil fuel fast enough...

[@NathanDudani]

One word, AvGas

[@jonahansen]

If I did my arithmetic properly there is an error at 4:05 where 4,720,000 metric tons is said to be a cube 7.5 meters on a side. It's a cube 74.9 meters on a side - off by a factor of 10 in the linear dimension.

[@ronhipschman]

@jonahansen, Thank you. I re-did the calculations and you are absolutely correct. Unfortunately, KZbin does not allow editing videos, and I would lose all the credit it's gotten. Instead, I have added an important note to the video description correcting the error with a big thank you to you and your sharp eyes (and calculator!) Thanks, Ron

[@jonahansen]

@@ronhipschman No problem. It just seemed off to me, that's why I checked it out. I like your videos very much. Thanks!

[@sydhenderson6753]

Lead was also used in roofing which is where I came in contact with it. Dad was a carpenter.

[@ronhipschman]

Another application I was unaware of. Thanks for adding! Ron

[@sydhenderson6753]

@@ronhipschman It's probably been replaced by now as an environmental hazard.

[@brfisher1123]

Ironic that the stuff that makes up the "lead" in pencils is in the same group (group 14) as actual lead. Sad that after lead it's farewell to the stable elements :(

[@ronhipschman]

I'm not sure I see irony there - just coincidence. (Please explain if I missed something important...) Yes, moving into the radioactive elements will make things more difficult (and the videos much shorter, and probably less visual!) I'm not sure how I should handle that. There are really only a few left (Po, Rn, Ra, Th, U, Pu, and Am) that really have any application or that we've made visible quantities. I may have to do group videos. Any suggestions? Ron

[@sydhenderson6753]

@@ronhipschman Bismuth also since for all practical purposes it's stable and is quite useful (mostly as a replacement for lead).

[@SteelBreeze021]

Not one, but two Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon” album covers on the light prism slide. 😊 Thanks once again for the great information contained in this content.

[@ronhipschman]

Aside from "Dark Side of the Moon" which other cover had a prism? Ron

[@SteelBreeze021]

⁠@@ronhipschman Well there was a band back in 1977 called Prism, but I was jokingly referring to your “Dispersion” slide at the 30:20 mark. 🌒

[@brfisher1123]

The irony is that carbon in the form of graphite is called “lead” when used in pencils which again is in the same group of the periodic table (group 14) as carbon. I don't know of any more details I can point out other than carbon in the form of graphite being called lead, another element of group 14. 🤷‍♂️

[@sydhenderson6753]

The element molybdenum's name comes from the Greek word for lead since one of its compounds resembles lead and graphite. This must cause problems for Greek chemists. (The words are molybdainio for molybdenum and molybdos for lead.)

[@CliffSedge-nu5fv]

As writing elements, Pb is called white lead, and C is called black lead.

[@jbyrd655]

A cube of lead 7.5 meters on a side would weigh 4,784,906.25 kilograms, or about 4800 metric tons. Such is the 'beauty' of the metric system... According to my calculations, 4720000 tons of lead would result in a cube 15.875 meters on a side, or about 52 feet per side. Doesn't seem near enough, even considering that lead is fairly heavily recycled... Please correct me if I'm wrong , and thank you for the interesting videos.

[@ronhipschman]

You are completely correct. Thank you for noting this issue in the presentation. I have commented in the past to other viewers who have also noted my egregious error. I have corrected it in my slide deck, but unfortunately KZbin does not allow one to replace a previously submitted video, nor do they allow one to edit AND ADD new or corrected segments without losing credit for all the views already counted. Thank you again! Ron

[@amaahda]

great vid

[@ronhipschman]

Thanks!

[@rabidwallaby84]

2:19 - Can you confirm that this is the literal translation from the original texts, or is this just the King James version of the bible where there are known "modernizations" of analogies?

[@ronhipschman]

Sorry, I'm not a biblical scholar. I just looked this up on-line somewhere and trusted it. If you have additional insights, I'd love to hear them. Ron

[@ronhipschman]

Here's an interesting comparison: biblia.com/bible/nasb95/exodus/15/10 Ron

[@terrypitt-brooke8367]

very enjoyable! but an arithmetic problem in your visualization of global lead production. A 7.5 m cube has a volume of about 422 m^3 and would only contain 4790 tonnes of lead. To contain the annual global production, the cube would have to be 74 m on an edge. Decimal points!! Keep up the good work!

[@ronhipschman]

Thank you for that. But @jonahansen also pointed that out to me further down in the comments. Unfortunately, KZbin does not allow updating of video material without losing credit (views, etc.). Thanks to you and @jonahansen, I have updated my Keynote, so if I ever re-do the video (or present the talk live), I WILL have the right numbers! It makes me so happy there are folks who are checking up on my arithmetic! Ron

[@terrypitt-brooke8367]

@@ronhipschman understood!

[@brickchains1]

airplane feul is leaded still

[@ronhipschman]

@brickchains1 Thank you for that. I had found that factlet too, I just forgot to add it. This video was completely out of hand with its length. Ron

[@brickchains1]

@@ronhipschman I LOVE YOUR VIDS I LOVE CHEMISTRS

[@greegearl1542]

@@ronhipschman The length of this video was an unexpected treat. Please do not be afraid to entertain your viewers with longer videos.

[@ronhipschman]

@@greegearl1542 , Some of the upcoming videos will probably be much shorter. Mainly because the elements are radioactive and either there are virtually no applications, or simply because there are very rare (or non-existent) in nature. I may have to group some of these together or do something else entirely, like some general talks about radioactivity, isotope production, or whatever. Ideas welcome! Ron