| Description |
Soft, weak, ductile, dull gray metal. Tarnishes in moist air
but stable to oxygen and water, dissolves in nitric acid. Used in
batteries, cables, paints, glass, solder, petrol, radiation shielding,
etc. Diagnostic tests:
With soda (Na2CO3) on charcoal a malleable globule
of metallic lead is obtained from lead compounds, the coating has a yellow
color near the assay, the sulfide gives also a white coating (PbSO3)
further away.
Mixed with potassium iodide and heated on a plaster tablet, lead iodide
forms a chrome-yellow sublimate.
In solution, lead, along with mercury (Hg1+) and silver form
white, insoluble chlorides from aqueous solutions.
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