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82Pb207
Post-transition metal

Lead

Lead is a soft, dense, bluish-gray metal that humans have shaped and used for thousands of years thanks to how easily it melts and bends. That same usefulness once made it common in pipes, paint, and fuel, but modern science has shown lead exposure is seriously harmful, especially to children, so its use in everyday products has been sharply cut back.

Group · Period
14 · 6
At room temp
solid
Melts at
600.61 K
Density
11.342 g/cm³
Discovered
Ancient

Uses

Lead’s dominant use today is in lead-acid batteries, the rechargeable batteries that start the engines in the vast majority of the world’s gasoline and diesel vehicles — a use where the lead stays safely sealed inside the battery casing throughout its life and is largely recycled afterward. Because it’s so dense, lead is also the standard shielding material against X-rays and other radiation, used in hospital walls, protective aprons, and nuclear facility construction. It continues to appear in certain solders, ammunition, and specialized industrial alloys where its weight and low melting point are genuinely useful.

Lead’s older uses in paint pigments, plumbing pipes, and gasoline additives have almost entirely been phased out in most countries since the mid-to-late 20th century, once research firmly established how harmful even low-level lead exposure is, particularly for children’s neurological development.

History

Lead has no single discoverer — it was worked by ancient civilizations including Egypt and, especially, Rome, which used it extensively for water pipes, cookware, and construction. In fact, the English word “plumbing” and lead’s chemical symbol, Pb, both trace back to its Latin name, plumbum. For most of human history lead’s toxicity went largely unrecognized, even as it was used in everyday objects and even food and drink containers; it wasn’t until modern toxicology, especially research through the 20th century, that the full extent of lead’s health risks became clear and led to sweeping restrictions on its use.

Fun facts

  • The word 'plumbing' comes from plumbum, lead's Latin name, because ancient Romans used lead extensively for water pipes — the same root gives lead its chemical symbol, Pb.
  • Lead is so dense and effective at blocking radiation that it's still the standard shielding material in X-ray rooms and nuclear facilities.
  • Leaded gasoline was phased out across most of the world by the early 2000s after decades of research linked airborne lead to lowered childhood IQ.

Frequently asked questions

Why was lead used in paint and gasoline if it's toxic?

For a long time, lead's benefits — it made paint durable and helped engines run smoothly — were valued more than its health risks were understood or acknowledged. It took decades of research linking lead exposure to serious harm, especially in children's developing brains, before governments banned it from paint and fuel starting in the later 20th century.

Is lead still used in anything today?

Yes — its biggest current use by far is in lead-acid batteries, the kind found in most gasoline and diesel vehicles, where it's contained safely inside a sealed casing. Lead is also still used for radiation shielding and certain specialized alloys, applications where its density and low melting point matter more than any exposure risk.

Who discovered lead?

No one person did — lead has been mined and worked since ancient times, including by the Egyptians and Romans, long before the modern idea of 'discovering' an element existed. It was one of the earliest metals humans used at scale because it's soft, low-melting, and relatively easy to extract from its ore.

Compounds

6 notable compounds containing Pb

  • Pb3O4industrial

    Lead(II,IV) oxide

    Known as red lead, a bright orange-red mixed-valence oxide that combines lead in both the +2 and +4 states within one crystal structure.

    Used for: Anti-corrosive primer pigment for steel structures and ships

  • PbCl2salt

    Lead(II) chloride

    A white, sparingly soluble solid that forms an orthorhombic crystal structure known as cotunnite, and serves as a common intermediate when converting lead ores into other lead compounds.

    Used for: Intermediate in lead refining and manufacture of other lead salts

  • PbOoxide

    Lead(II) oxide

    Known as litharge in its red tetragonal form and massicot in its yellow orthorhombic form, this oxide is the starting material for most other lead compounds made industrially.

    Used for: Flux in leaded crystal glass and ceramic glazes, and paste for lead-acid battery plates

  • PbSO4salt

    Lead(II) sulfate

    A white, nearly insoluble salt known naturally as the mineral anglesite, and the compound that coats both plates of a lead-acid battery once it has been discharged.

    Used for: Forms on lead-acid battery electrodes during discharge

  • PbSmineral

    Lead(II) sulfide

    The natural mineral galena, forming dull gray cubic crystals that are the world's primary ore of lead and one of the earliest semiconductors ever used in electronics.

    Used for: Principal lead ore and rectifying crystal in early 'cat's whisker' radio receivers

  • PbO2oxide

    Lead(IV) oxide

    A dark brown, strongly oxidizing solid in which lead reaches its less common +4 state, giving the compound enough oxidizing power to serve as a battery electrode material.

    Used for: Positive-plate active material in lead-acid car batteries

Isotopes

43 known isotopes

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IsotopeNatural abundanceHalf-lifeDecay modeMass excessBinding energy / nucleonDecay width
Pb-204 1.4% 1.4E+17 Y Alpha decay -25,109.82 keV 7,879.93 keV 1.03 × 10-40 eV
Pb-206 stable 24.1% Stable — -23,785.51 keV 7,875.36 keV —
Pb-207 stable 22.1% Stable — -22,451.97 keV 7,869.87 keV —
Pb-208 stable 52.4% Stable — -21,748.52 keV 7,867.45 keV —
Show all 43 isotopes
Pb-178 — 0.12 ms Alpha decay (100%) 3,573.37 keV 7,690.84 keV 3.80 × 10-12 eV
Pb-179 — 3.5 ms Alpha decay (100%) 2,051.61 keV 7,701.46 keV 1.30 × 10-13 eV
Pb-180 — 4.1 ms Alpha decay (100%) -1,941.07 keV 7,725.7 keV 1.11 × 10-13 eV
Pb-181 — 45 ms Alpha decay (100%) -3,110.63 keV 7,734.07 keV 1.01 × 10-14 eV
Pb-182 — 55 ms Alpha decay (98%), Electron capture / beta-plus decay (2%) -6,824.56 keV 7,756.33 keV 8.30 × 10-15 eV
Pb-183 — 535 ms Alpha decay (90%) -7,580.01 keV 7,762.18 keV 8.53 × 10-16 eV
Pb-184 — 490 ms Alpha decay (80%), Electron capture / beta-plus decay (20%) -11,051.59 keV 7,782.73 keV 9.31 × 10-16 eV
Pb-185 — 6.3 s Alpha decay (34%), Electron capture / beta-plus decay -11,541.21 keV 7,786.93 keV 7.24 × 10-17 eV
Pb-186 — 4.81 s Electron capture / beta-plus decay (60%), Alpha decay (40%) -14,680.9 keV 7,805.34 keV 9.49 × 10-17 eV
Pb-187 — 15.2 s Electron capture / beta-plus decay (90.5%), Alpha decay (9.5%) -14,986.96 keV 7,808.4 keV 3.00 × 10-17 eV
Pb-188 — 25.5 s Electron capture / beta-plus decay (91.5%), Alpha decay (8.5%) -17,811.02 keV 7,824.82 keV 1.79 × 10-17 eV
Pb-189 — 39 s Electron capture / beta-plus decay (100%), Alpha decay (0.4%) -17,844.02 keV 7,826.3 keV 1.17 × 10-17 eV
Pb-190 — 71 s Electron capture / beta-plus decay (99.6%), Alpha decay (0.4%) -20,416.61 keV 7,841.13 keV 6.43 × 10-18 eV
Pb-191 — 1.33 m Electron capture / beta-plus decay (99.987%), Alpha decay (0.013%) -20,291.24 keV 7,841.68 keV 5.72 × 10-18 eV
Pb-192 — 3.5 m Electron capture / beta-plus decay (99.9941%), Alpha decay (0.0059%) -22,551.85 keV 7,854.65 keV 2.17 × 10-18 eV
Pb-193 — — Electron capture / beta-plus decay -22,229.26 keV 7,854.1 keV —
Pb-194 — 10.7 m Electron capture / beta-plus decay (100%), Alpha decay (0.0000073%) -24,207.87 keV 7,865.42 keV 7.11 × 10-19 eV
Pb-195 — 15 m Electron capture / beta-plus decay (100%) -23,738.04 keV 7,864.06 keV 5.07 × 10-19 eV
Pb-196 — 37 m Electron capture / beta-plus decay (100%), Alpha decay (0.00003%) -25,348.23 keV 7,873.34 keV 2.06 × 10-19 eV
Pb-197 — 8.1 m Electron capture / beta-plus decay (100%) -24,745.39 keV 7,871.28 keV 9.39 × 10-19 eV
Pb-198 — 2.4 h Electron capture / beta-plus decay (100%) -26,067.44 keV 7,878.97 keV 5.28 × 10-20 eV
Pb-199 — 90 m Electron capture / beta-plus decay (100%) -25,231.73 keV 7,875.74 keV 8.45 × 10-20 eV
Pb-200 — 21.5 h Electron capture (100%) -26,250.86 keV 7,881.81 keV 5.89 × 10-21 eV
Pb-201 — 9.33 h Electron capture / beta-plus decay (100%) -25,271.03 keV 7,877.88 keV 1.36 × 10-20 eV
Pb-202 — 52.5E+3 Y Electron capture (100%), Alpha decay (1%) -25,940.61 keV 7,882.15 keV 2.75 × 10-28 eV
Pb-203 — 51.92 h Electron capture (100%) -24,786.48 keV 7,877.4 keV 2.44 × 10-21 eV
Pb-205 — 1.70E+7 Y Electron capture (100%) -23,770.16 keV 7,874.33 keV 8.50 × 10-31 eV
Pb-209 — 3.234 h Beta-minus decay (100%) -17,614.57 keV 7,848.65 keV 3.92 × 10-20 eV
Pb-210 — 22.20 Y Beta-minus decay (100%), Alpha decay (0.0000019%) -14,728.43 keV 7,835.97 keV 6.51 × 10-25 eV
Pb-211 — 36.1 m Beta-minus decay (100%) -10,493.01 keV 7,817.01 keV 2.11 × 10-19 eV
Pb-212 — 10.622 h Beta-minus decay (100%) -7,548.93 keV 7,804.32 keV 1.19 × 10-20 eV
Pb-213 — 10.2 m Beta-minus decay (100%) -3,203.6 keV 7,785.17 keV 7.45 × 10-19 eV
Pb-214 — 27.06 m Beta-minus decay (100%) -183.02 keV 7,772.4 keV 2.81 × 10-19 eV
Pb-215 — 147 s Beta-minus decay (100%) 4,342.25 keV 7,752.74 keV 3.10 × 10-18 eV
Pb-216 — 300 ns Beta-minus decay 7,510 keV 7,740 keV 1.52 × 10-9 eV
Pb-217 — 19.9 s Beta-minus decay (100%) 12,260 keV 7,719 keV 2.29 × 10-17 eV
Pb-218 — 15 s Beta-minus decay (100%) 15,630 keV 7,705 keV 3.04 × 10-17 eV
Pb-219 — — Beta-minus decay (100%) 20,620 keV 7,684 keV —
Pb-220 — 300 ns Beta-minus decay 24,130 keV 7,670 keV 1.52 × 10-9 eV