Lead is a heavy metal.
Lead is the chemical element with atomic number 82 , whose symbol is Pb . It is a metal found in cerussite, anglesite and galena, but it is scarce in the Earth's crust.
Lead - a term 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 is the manufacture of pipes and shielding, as well as various uses in the weapons and chemical industries .
Types of lead
There are many types of lead, among which is, for example, the so-called short lead , which is mixed with arsenic. The result is a product that is used in the production of shot.
There is also what is known as rich lead , which is one that has significant levels of silver, and poor lead , which has very low levels of silver.
The toxicity
It is important to note that lead is toxic . The poisoning caused by this metal is known as plumbosis or lead poisoning . When lead enters the body through ingested water, it is called water lead poisoning .
Lead poisoning produces 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 cans sealed with lead.
The bullet in 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 firearm bullet 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 killer, he's always talking about football" , "The truth is that this job is a killer, but I need the money" .
Likewise, we cannot ignore the existence of a series of colloquial expressions that make use of the word we are analyzing. One of those is the verbal phrase "fall plumb", which is used to refer to the fact that something or someone has fallen with the full weight of their body. An example: "The worker fell plummeted from the scaffolding on which he is standing."
A story by Hans Christian Andersen
In addition to all the above, we have to emphasize that precisely one of the most important children's stories in universal literature of all time includes the term in question in its title. We are referring to "The Tin Soldier" , which was written in 1838 by the author Hans Christian Andersen , also creator of other important stories such as "The Red Shoes" , "The Ugly Duckling " and "The Emperor's New Clothes". .
In this story, specifically, the story of a small lead soldier who is mutilated is told. He will fall madly in love with a dancer and that will lead him to suffer various tragedies until in the end he can unite with her forever.