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Some materials are so commonplace that we take them for granted. One of those materials is a grayish metal that has been with us for thousands of years. That metal is lead, still one of the world's most useful substances, and one that never ceases to find a role i ....

Middle of Essay
.... and chemical properties, accounted for its extensive use. Lead can be rolled into sheets which can be made into rods and pipes. It can also be molded into containers and mixed with other metallic elements. Lead was used in ancient times for making coinage, art objects and water pipes. One of the first known toxic substances, lead was used by the Romans for lining aqueducts and in glazes on containers used for food and wine storage; and it is suspected to have resulted in widespread lead poisoning. Members of the famous Franklin Expedition to the Northwest Passage in the mid-1840s met a similar fate, being poisoned from lead in solder, widely use ....