Elements are substances that cannot be broken down by chemical means. There are 118 elements on the periodic table; 92 of them occur naturally. The periodic table organizes chemical elements in rows by the order of their atomic number. Lead, whose chemical symbol is Pb, is an element that belongs to the carbon family on the periodic table. Lead comes from the Greek word protos which means first. Refer to figure 1.2; the image is a soft, bluish-gray metal that is highly ductile and malleable. This image represents the characteristics of lead. A person can get much information about lead such as the atomic number, mass (etc.), but understanding the use of lead then and now and its dangers is of high importance. .
As before stated, lead is an element on the periodic table with distinctive properties. Often times than not people look at the chemical symbol to find an element although there is other ways of identification. Two important ways shown on a periodic table are the atomic mass and atomic number for each element. Many people tend to confuse these two terms. The atomic mass is the mass of an isotope for an element, where the atomic number is the number of protons in the nucleus of an element. For example in figure 1.3, Pb is the chemical symbol for the element lead. Above the symbol is the atomic number; 82. Below the symbol is the atomic mass which is 207.2. Take note that this is a basic example of the information shown on a periodic table, because more complex tables with the number of isotopes or the melting and boiling point are in existence today.
Knowing how to name an element such as lead on a periodic table is useful, but a person is accountable for much more information such as the chemical reactivity and properties. Make certain the difference between nonmetals and metals when discussing an element. A nonmetal simply is not a metal because it lacks the properties of a metal.
