LEAD IS RADIOACTIVE..so why r RADIOACTIVE REACTIONS carried out in LEAD BOXES??
398158
You are wrong NATURAL lead is a mixture of four stable isotopes (read NON-radioactive): 204Pb, 206Pb, 207Pb, and 208Pb . These four isotopes are the end products of each of the three series of naturally occurring radioactive elements: 206Pb for the uranium series, 207Pb for the actinium series, and 208Pb for the thorium series. Twenty seven OTHER isotopes of lead, all of which are radioactive, are recognized.\n\nLead is used as shielding because of its density. Remember that there is nothing magic about lead. Wood, air or styrofoam for that matter would work as well, but because of the density differences the same amount of shielding provided by 1" of lead might take 30" of wood or 50" of styrofoam
359631
Atoms of chemical elements may have many isotopes (different forms) with the same atomic numbers but different atomic weights / atomic mass numbers. If a nuclide is radioactive, it is sometimes referred to as a radionuclide or (when the atom in question is understood) a radioisotope.\n\nA radionuclide is an atom with an unstable nucleus. The radionuclide undergoes radioactive decay by emitting a gamma ray(s) and/or subatomic particles. Radionuclides may occur naturally, but can also be artificially produced.\n\nRadionuclides are often referred to by chemists and biologists as radioactive isotopes or radioisotopes, and play an important part in the technologies that provide us with food, water and good health. However, they can also constitute real or perceived dangers.
261496
Doing the Lewis dot structure for lead is a little hard here since I can not necessarily draw the structure on the screen, but here is how to do it.\n\nFirst, take out your periodic table and see where Pb, lead, is located.  Then, determine how many s and p electrons you have, do not count the center electrons is basically what you do, meaning it has 4 outer electrons.  Thus, draw 4 dots around Pb, and you have a Lewis dot structure.
486649
The question is a little bit muddled, but I think I get the idea.\n\nThe atoms that are exposing the age of things are those atoms that are, or were, radioactive.  Any radioactive material decays.  It also decays at predictable, measurable rates that are distinctive to the element.  So you can date things that have radioactive elements (which most things do in some trace amount) or their decay elements within, based on how decayed they are.\n\nUranium-238 ultimately decays into lead.  You can date how long something containing uranium-238 has been in existence based on the ratio of Ur-238 to Pb.\n\nThis process operates at the same rate no matter what the temperature is.
924654
Measuring radioactivity levels of radioactive isotopes  with a Geiger counter.  Measuring radioactivity through different materials.
399253
From my understanding of history..lead was laying around in pellets all over the eastern and northeastern United States. Because it was easily melted it was as the other answer given used to make bullets, pots, pans and dinnerware. Unfortunantly for our forefathers many died young.....BECAUSE OF LEAD POISONING....sad but true.
279995
They didn't have the ability to change the number of protons in an atom's nucleus.  That's the only way to transmute one element into another.  Of course, most of the time, you end up with something radioactive...until you get to lead.
1157731
maybe there's lead in it.\n\nnickel, zinc, iron, magnesium, etc.
22882
Change into a different element altogether.\n\nNatural decay of heavy elements occurs sending off alpha- or beta-particles, i.e. helium4-cores or electrons.\n\nIn the case of alpha radiation, the element will move two positions down in the periodic system, in case of beta radiation it will move one position up.\n\nUranium 238 emits alpha-radiation, forming Thorium 234. See the link below for consecutive decay reactions.
13866
James's answer about the amounts you would need to inhale/absorb are correct, but I would disagree with his "rare" statement.  A lot of depleted Uranium is used by the military in armour piercing rounds as it is about 10 to 100 times denser than lead.\n\nUnfortunately its use is hazardous and exposes the operators and the target to highly absorbable vapourised and finely powdered depleted Uranium.  This has been linked with Gulf war syndrome in our troops from both Gulf wars where a lot of armour piercing  ammuntion was fired.  The effects on the target are unknown, and we should be watching for signs of radiation sickness in the Iraqi population and rise in birth defects etc as this toxic material builds up in the population.
25066
theoriticaly millions but because they are so tiny they dont react with the atoms in your body. They are so small in fact that they could travel through 100,000 miles of lead and never react with a single atom
223643
because not all of it has turned into lead yet. a half life extends forever. the part that has not decayed is still uranium.
1186885
I'm taking your question literally:  the lead (Pb) is on leads of a dual in-line package IC for through-hole applications, and the quantity of Pb is just the amount used for 'tinning' to promote solderability, and these are not surface mount packages.\n\nAlso, I'm assuming that:\nYou've confirmed the law applies to you (this is not networking equipment).\nYou've applied for and don't qualify under one of the exemptions.\nYou're shipping TO the EC countries.\nThese aren't cheap 'jelly-bean' devices you can just throw away.\nThey are plastic rather than ceramic packages.\n\nThere are three ways to remove the lead:\n1) Mechanically,\n2) Chemically (with acid),\n3) Solubility.\n\n1) Mechanical removal is usually not practical because of static electricity considerations, and, you can't get to all sides of the device.  It should be mentioned, however, the IC leads probably could withstand bending out flat (like gull-wings) so that you could get access to both sides, and use mechanical-abrasive methods to remove the lead (electronic grade baking soda abrasive blasting techniques for example, or residue-free CO2 ice blasting, mechanical sanding, etc.).   Depends on the static sensitivity of your device and especially how you 'ground' the device in a custom-built enclosed fixture to eliminate static damage.  Is labor-intensive, but doable to salvage an expensive device - suitable for low volumes - can be subcontracted to local shops for 'rework', but you'll have to spend time confirming that the ***very strict*** anti-static measures are implemented and adhered to on the shop floor.  I don't think any post-rework electronic testing is really going to catch static damaged parts (some will only be 'wounded' and will fail prematurely - short-term testing won't find this), so your only recourse is to avoid damage in the first place.  Bead-blast residues are relatively small and inexpensive to capture and dispose of.\n\n2)  Chemical methods would take advantage of the solubility of lead in certain liquids at room temperature (i.e, acids).  FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEM:  aqueous-based solvents WILL be absorbed into the plastic.  Further, acidic ions will remain trapped in the crevices by capillary action and migrate over time by diffusion directly into through plastic to the electronic device where corrosion could occur.  So the requirements for dissolution by acid are:  Acids that would eventually cause device failure are excluded (this eliminates HCL due to chloride migration to the wirebonds and subsequent corrosion),  acids that are difficult to rinse are excluded (sulfuric acid is notoriously difficult to rinse).  Further, it would only make sense to encapsulate the epoxy IC package in a protective covering to isolate the acid from the plastic packaging in the first place (thus tooling and extra labor expense is involved).  Acetic acid is a weak organic acid that *might* be usable, in that its diffusion through plastic is lower due to the larger molecule size compared to HCl.  You'd have to check acetic acid against solubility of lead vs. its compatibility with gold, silicon, aluminum, copper, epoxy used in IC manufacturing.  THEN you'd need to 'tin' the leads with some other metal (another expense).  After rinsing, the plastic packages would need to be 'baked' to drive off the moisture (and hopefully acetic acid residues if baking temp is above boiling point of acetic acid) - this must be done in a oven specially designed for removing humidity with a rechargable dessicant (an ordinary oven won't get the dew-point low enough; you need -80°F dew point or thereabouts), and you'd need to confirm by laboratory methods the acetic acid was gone.   Acetic acid is so slow acting that I don't think you'd want to wait around for it to work (time is money), but whatever the candidate acid, it would be one that you could remove the t
329767
You might be looking for information on alchemy, not chemistry.  The two fields of study are very seperate these days.  Of course, modern scientits could turn lead into gold by nuclear fusion, or turn heavier elements into gold by fission- neither process seems practical.
547737
kiki is right, and most other answers wrong. 'Decay' is only applied to radioactive elements, and not all elements are radioactive. Many have *isotopes* that are radioactive, but aren't the stable form of the element. For example, carbon 14 is radioactive carbon and decays; Carbon 13, the stable version, will never do so. \n\nStable elements can go through fusion or fission, effectively changing them into something else (for example, carbon fuses at about 600 million degrees K), but that is *not* decay, since decay involves *spontaneous* emission of radiation, and that event only involves external factors, like a star exploding, and is not a property of the element - so, again, that can't be called 'decay'.\n\nSo, no, not all elements decay over time, only the ones that have no stable isotope - all elements above 83, bismuth.
159810
Don't be ridiculous, radioactive stuff doesn't glow. However, Hollywood screenwriters think it does. \n\nIn some instances high-energy radioactive particles will cause other stuff to glow, but that's an exception, not the rule. On old radium watch dials the radioactivity from the radium would cause zinc sulfide to fluoresce, but you cannot see the radioactive particles themselves. Radium by itself will not "glow green" and you cannot see electrons or alpha particles unless they react with something (e.g. the phosphor screens in oscilloscopes).
422197
with plates of lead and an acid.