Re: how much lead when drinking from crystal

farooq_w_at_hotmail.com
Date: 10/20/04 

Date: 20 Oct 2004 02:28:42 -0700

Archimedes Plutonium wrote:
> The reason crystal is called crystal is because it has lead crystal
> mixed with silicon.

Lead oxide with silica (silicon dioxide).

>
> I am not quite sure as to why or how the lead becomes transparent.
> Anyone know the physics behind why lead, a metal can become
transparent?

Almost all lead salts containing Pb(2+) are colorless...so would be
lead silicates.

> And can all metals become transparent when mixed with silicon?

No. If this were true, there would be no colored glasses.

>
> But the question on my mind is the health question of how many atoms
of
> lead does one ingest when drinking from a crystal glass containing
lead.

I suppose leaching of lead is significant. Goolge brings this result:

"Leaching of Lead and Other Metal Ions from 'Lead Crystal' Glass," pp.
419-426 in Ceramic Transactions, Vol. 29, Advances in Fusion and
Processing of Glass. Edited by A.K. Varshneya, D.F. Bickford, and P.P.
Bihuniak. American Ceramic Society, Westerville, OH, 1993

> I suppose most people would say zero number of lead atoms gets into
the
> body.

No one would say that. Normal human body does contain microgram
quantities of lead, so does the food.

>I however am skeptical of that claim and would hazard to guess
> that a few atoms of lead are taken into the body whenever a person
> drinks wine from a crystal glass.

If few means 10-50 atoms, then this corresponds to approximately
1.7 x 10^-20 grams of lead. I think this weight of ingested plutonium
would not be toxic.

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