Basic Facts about Lead :

Lead, element symbol pb is a soft, dull silvery white or greyish metal very malleable, ductile, and dense and is a poor conductor of electricity. The symbol Pb is an abbreviation of the Latin word for lead, plumbum. It belongs to the carbon family of elements. It is very resistant to corrosion but tarnishes upon exposure to air. Lead isotopes are the end products of each of the three series of naturally occurring radioactive elements. Known in antiquity and believed to be the oldest of metals, lead is highly durable and resistant to decaying, as the continuous use of lead water pipes installed by the ancient Romans.

Lead is mentioned often in early biblical accounts. The Babylonians used the lead metal as plates on which they recorded inscriptions. The Romans used it for tablets, water pipes, coins, and even cooking utensils.

On a weight basis, lead has nearly the same abundance in Earth’s crust as tin. Tin and lead shared very similar properties so, for a long time both were considered as different forms of same metal.

Though lead is not abundant, natural concentration processes have resulted in substantial deposits of commercial significance. Rarely found free in nature, lead is present in several minerals, but all are of minor significance except the sulphide, PbS (galena, or lead glance), which is the major source of lead production throughout the world

Native lead is rare in nature. Currently lead is usually found in ore with zinc, silver and copper and it is extracted together with these metals. The main lead mineral is found in Galena (PbS) and there are also deposits of cerrussite and anglesite which are mined.