![](https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Lead_electrolytic_and_1cm3_cube.jpg) ![A sample of lead freshly solidified from a molten state](https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/Lead-2.jpg) ![Chart representing the final part of the s-process. Red horizontal lines with a circle in their right ends represent neutron captures; blue arrows pointing up-left represent beta decays; green arrows pointing down-left represent alpha decays; cyan arrows pointing down-right represent electron captures.](https://wiki-gateway.eudic.net/wikipedia_en/I/m/S-R-processes-atomic-mass-201-to-210.svg.png)
Lead (/lɛd/) is a chemical element in the carbon group with symbol Pb (from Latin:plumbum) and atomic number 82. It is a soft, malleable and heavy post-transition metal. Freshly cut, solid lead has a bluish-white color that soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed to air; the liquid metal has shiny chrome-silver luster. Lead has the highest atomic number of any non-radioactive element (two radioactive elements, namely technetium and promethium, are lighter), although the next higher element, bismuth, has one isotope with a half-life that is so long (over one billion times the estimated age of the universe) that it can be considered stable. Lead's four stable isotopes each have 82 protons, a magic number in the nuclear shell model of atomic nuclei. The isotope lead-208 also has 126 neutrons, another magic number, and is hence double magic, a property that grants it enhanced stability: lead-208 is the heaviest known stable nuclide.
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