Lead is a heavy metal.
Lead is the chemical element with atomic number 82 and symbol Pb . It is a metal found in cerussite, anglesite and galena, but is rare in the Earth's crust.
Lead – a term derived from the Latin plumbum – is soft, malleable and resistant to corrosion. It is among the heavy metals , is ductile and melts at low temperatures. Among the various uses of lead are the manufacture of pipes and shielding, as well as various uses in the arms and chemical industries .
Types of lead
There are many types of lead, including, for example, the so-called short lead , which is mixed with arsenic. The result is a product used in the production of pellets.
There is also the so-called rich lead , which is the one that has significant levels of silver, and the poor lead , which has very low levels of the latter.
Toxicity
It is important to note that lead is toxic . Lead poisoning is known as lead poisoning or saturnism . When lead enters the body through ingested water, it is called hydric lead poisoning .
Lead poisoning causes anemia , alters oxygen transport, causes neurological damage to the brain , generates hallucinations and makes the patient aggressive due to metabolic changes. The composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven and the painter Caravaggio suffered from this disease.
Sources of lead poisoning include certain paints, toxic fumes from factories or vehicles, pipes with lead solder, and lead-sealed cans.
The bullet of a firearm is called lead.
Lead as a bullet and an annoying person
In colloquial language, the notion of lead is used to name the bullet of the firearm and the person or thing that is heavy and annoying . For example: "They found the butcher with three bullets in his head" , "Lautaro is a bore, he is always talking about football" , "The truth is that this job is a bore, but I need the money" .
We cannot ignore the existence of a series of colloquial expressions that use the word we are analyzing. One of them is the verbal expression «caer a picado», which is used to refer to something or someone who has fallen with all the weight of their body. An example: «The worker fell plumb from the scaffolding he is standing on».
A tale by Hans Christian Andersen
In addition to all the above, we must emphasize that precisely one of the most important children's stories in universal literature of all time includes in its title the term that concerns us. We are referring to "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" , which was written in 1838 by the author Hans Christian Andersen , creator also of other important stories such as "The Red Shoes" , "The Ugly Duckling " and "The Emperor's New Clothes" .
This tale tells the story of a small, mutilated tin soldier. He falls madly in love with a dancer and this leads him to suffer various tragedies until he is finally able to join her forever.