What is the chemical symbol for lead?
Answer
Pb
The chemical symbol for lead is Pb. The symbol comes from plumbum, the Latin word for lead, rather than from the element's English name.
Lead is a dense, soft, bluish-gray post-transition metal with atomic number 82. It is easy to shape and has a relatively low melting point, qualities that made it useful to ancient metalworkers. Humans were smelting lead by the 7th millennium BC, and Roman production was especially extensive because lead commonly occurs alongside silver ores.
The lowercase b in Pb matters: chemical symbols begin with a capital letter and may use a lowercase second letter. Lead is toxic, particularly when it accumulates in the body, so many former uses in paint, gasoline, plumbing, and household products have been restricted. It remains important in applications such as lead-acid batteries and radiation shielding.