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Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Lead

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Lead

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This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 27, 2017 by Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 17:07, 29 July 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Lead metal, directly after electrolysis and as a cube

Lead is a chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal with a density exceeding that of most common materials; it is soft, malleable, and melts at a relatively low temperature. Chemically, lead is a relatively unreactive post-transition metal. Lead was known to prehistoric people. A principal ore of lead, galena, often bears silver; interest in silver sparked lead extraction and use in ancient Rome. Lead production declined after the fall of Rome and did not reach comparable levels again until the Industrial Revolution. Nowadays, global production of lead is about ten million tonnes annually. High density, low melting point, ductility, relative inertness to oxidation, relative abundance, and low cost resulted in the extensive use of lead in construction, plumbing, batteries, bullets and shot, weights, solders, pewters, fusible alloys, and radiation shielding. In the late 19th century, lead was recognized as highly toxic, and since then it has been phased out for many uses. Lead is a neurotoxin that accumulates in soft tissues and bones, damaging the nervous system and causing brain disorders and, in mammals, blood disorders. (Full article...)