Category Science

There is no doubt about the importance of lead in the lives of ancient humans. It was used to make pipes, vessels and a lot of other things. However, lead was also looked at with fear; this metal was vital in many torture mechanisms that were used to punish criminals.

In the Middle Ages, lead was used as an instrument of torture. Hot molten lead was poured into the ears of anyone suspected to be against the religious beliefs of the time. This was because lead melts easily. In Venice, prisoners were held in an attic with a lead roof that would make the cells unbearably hot in summer and unbearably cold in winter. Their screams of agony could be heard all day even outside the prison!

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To find one gram of silver, you need to drill through at least 20 tons of rock! Silver makes up only a tiny proportion of the Earth’s crust. Silver indeed is a rare metal.

Silver is found either as a free metal, or in combination with other elements. We can extract silver from silver ores; the most prominent silver ore is asanthite or argentite. Lead sulphate or Galena is another important source of silver. The principal sources of silver are the ores of copper, copper-nickel, lead, and lead-zinc obtained from Peru, Mexico, China, Australia, Chile, Poland and Kosovo. Peru and Mexico have been mining silver since 1546 and are still major world producers of this lustrous metal.

About 18,000 tons of silver are produced every year. But extracting silver is a tough process. A lot of it comes from the waste left behind after refining copper, lead or zinc. Although silver is relatively scarce, it is the most plentiful and least expensive of the precious metals.

The ancient Roman Empire is known for its magnificent wealth and rich culture. Despite all their glory, many Romans died young. After scientific enquiries, it was concluded that many Romans died young because of poisoning. This happened because they used one metal without knowing about its hazardous effects.

Lead was one of the most popular elements in ancient Rome. They used plates and vessels made of lead. Even water pipes were made of lead. The water in the pipes reacted with lead to form lead carbonate, capable of causing many chronic diseases. Many people died of various ailments and the Empire steadily declined, all without the Romans having any idea of what went wrong.

Of course, there were other reasons too for the decline of the Roman Empire, but it is still believed that lead played an important role in its downfall and collapse.

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Lead is of great use in the production of many products. For decades, it was added to paint to make it last longer and flow easier. Lead was included in fuel to make engines run better. We even used to manufacture water pipes made of lead.

Solder was also made with a lot of lead in it because it melted at a low temperature, and was much easier to use. These are but a few uses of lead. Yet, the use of lead is not encouraged much nowadays. Want to know why?

Though lead is useful, it is a poisonous metal. Even tiny amounts of lead can harm you. Inhaling lead can cause severe stomach ache and consumption of even the tiniest amount of this deadly metal is enough to paralyze you. Young children who breathe or swallow lead suffer brain damage, and become deaf and blind. Therefore, today, we have strict rules for controlling the use of lead.

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Let us now look at the various uses of tin. Tin is used to coat other metals to prevent corrosion. It is an alloying agent. Some of the important tin alloys include soft solder, type metal, fusible metal, pewter, bronze, bell metal, Babbitt metal, white metal, die casting alloy, and phosphor bronze.

Tin is used for making window glasses. The glasses used for making the windows of your classroom and houses are made by using a process which involves floating molten glass on molten tin to produce a flat pane surface. Tin salts are sprayed onto glass to produce electrically conductive coatings. These salt treated panes can be used for panel lighting and for frost-free wind-shields.

Tin is also used to make agricultural goods like fungicides. Some compounds of tin are very useful in the manufacture of paints. Tin is also used to make superconductive magnets that generate enormous field strengths, but use practically no power.

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All of us use tins at our homes. Tins are air-tight containers made of thin metal. If you go to the supermarkets, you would find shelves in the food section loaded with cans of preserved food. What are these tins made of? Tin cans are not made solely of tin, but rather tin-coated steel or tinplate. The properties of tin make it ideal for making cans. Therefore tin is known as canning material.

Tin does not react with oxygen, water, or the acids in food and its salts are completely harmless to humans. This is why millions of tons of meat, fish, fruits and vegetables are preserved in tin cans.

The mining of tin is believed to have begun around Classical times, in Cornwall and Devon. Within the civilizations of the Mediterranean, a thriving tin trade developed, and to this day, tin plays a very important role in our lives, directly and indirectly.