← Periodic table · Post-transition metals

Lead (Pb)

Lead (symbol Pb) is the chemical element with atomic number 82: a post-transition metal, solid at 0 °C, with an atomic mass of 207.2 u. Known since antiquity.

Dense, soft and easy to melt, lead has been used for more than 6,000 years. It still goes into every car battery and shields against X-rays. But it is a neurotoxin with no safe threshold for children, which led to its ban from gasoline and paint.

Key facts

Atomic number
82
Symbol
Pb
French name
Plomb
Atomic mass
207.2 u
Molar mass
207.2 g/mol
Family
Post-transition metals
Position
period 6, group 14, p-block
State at 0 °C
Solid
Melting point
327.5 °C
Boiling point
1,748.9 °C
Density
11.34 g/cm³
Electronegativity (Pauling)
2.33
First ionization energy
716 kJ/mol
Atomic radius
180 pm
Electron configuration
[Xe] 4f¹⁴ 5d¹⁰ 6s² 6p²
Abundance in Earth's crust
14 ppm (36th most abundant element)
Indicative price
2 $/kg (order of magnitude)
Radioactive
no
Discovery
Antiquity

Origin of the name

From the Old English lēad; the symbol Pb comes from the Latin plumbum.

What does lead look like?

A very soft blue-gray metal, shiny when freshly cut, then dull. Its density is 11.3 g/cm³ and it melts at 327 °C.

Where is lead found?

About 14 ppm of Earth's crust. Its main ore is galena (lead sulfide), often associated with zinc and silver. Lead is also the end point of the decay chains of uranium and thorium.

Natural sources

  • Galena
  • Cerussite
  • Anglesite

How is lead produced?

Galena is roasted, then reduced in a blast furnace. Today more than half of all lead comes from recycling, especially of batteries, whose recycling rate tops 95% in Europe.

Top producers

  • China
  • Australia
  • Peru
  • United States
  • Mexico

What is lead used for?

  • Lead-acid batteries for cars and backup power supplies (about 80% of consumption).
  • Radiation shielding (X-ray aprons, containers).
  • Roofing, gutters and stained glass.
  • Ammunition and fishing weights.

In everyday life

  • A car starter battery
  • The protective apron at the dentist's
  • A church stained-glass window
  • The zinc-and-lead roofs of Paris apartment buildings

Role in living things

No biological role. It takes the place of calcium and zinc in the body, builds up in the bones and disrupts brain development.

Hazards of lead

Lead poisoning (plumbism) causes anemia, neurological disorders and lower IQ in children, even at low doses. Current sources: old paint, old pipes, contaminated soil and some pottery.

Cosmic origin

  • Dying stars: Made slowly in red giants (stars like the Sun at the end of their lives).
  • Neutron stars: Created when two neutron stars collide — the “forge” of gold.

History of lead

The Romans used it for their water pipes: the Latin word plumbum gave us “plumber” and the symbol Pb. In the 20th century, tetraethyl lead added to gasoline from 1923 onward contaminated the entire planet; it was banned in France in 2000 and worldwide in 2021.

Did you know?

  • Geochemist Clair Patterson determined the age of Earth (4.55 billion years) using lead isotopes, then led the fight against leaded gasoline.
  • Greenland's ice still records the lead pollution from Roman mines 2,000 years ago.
  • The 2019 Notre-Dame de Paris fire melted several hundred tonnes of lead from the roof and spire.
  • The Romans sweetened their wine with a syrup boiled down in lead pots, rich in lead acetate, or “sugar of lead.”

Isotopes of lead

Lead has four stable isotopes, three of which are the end points of the uranium and thorium decay chains. Its composition therefore varies from deposit to deposit, which made it possible to date the Earth.

  • lead-204: 1.4% of natural lead, stable. The only lead isotope not produced by radioactivity: it serves as the reference in dating.
  • lead-205: radioactive, half-life 1.73 × 10⁷ years
  • lead-206: 24.1% of natural lead, stable. End of the uranium-238 chain: uranium–lead dating revealed the age of the Earth (4.5 billion years).
  • lead-207: 22.1% of natural lead, stable. End of the uranium-235 chain, also used to date rocks and meteorites.
  • lead-208: 52.4% of natural lead, stable. End of the thorium-232 chain; a “doubly magic” nucleus, exceptionally stable.
  • lead-210: radioactive, half-life 22.2 years. Used to date sediments, ice and wines over about a century.
  • lead-212: radioactive, half-life 10.6 h. Studied for targeted alpha therapy, via its daughter bismuth-212.
  • lead-214: radioactive, half-life 27.1 min

Common compounds

Galena (PbS)

Related elements

Same family (post-transition metals): Aluminium (Al), Gallium (Ga), Indium (In), Tin (Sn), Thallium (Tl), Bismuth (Bi), Polonium (Po).

Same column (group 14): Carbon (C), Silicon (Si), Germanium (Ge), Tin (Sn), Flerovium (Fl).