Name: Sadam Hussain

Roll No:16
Assignment:Heavy metals.
Submitted To : Sir Waqas
Heavy Metals
Introduction
 Heavy metals are toxic to human health
 Most common heavy metals are lead(Pb),
mercury(Hg), cadmium(Cd) and arsenic(As)
 Indoor concentration of heavy metals is generally
less than their outdoor concentration
 They are mainly produced by industrial activities,
and deposit slowly in the surrounding water and
soil
Properties of heavy metals
 They occur near the bottom of the periodic table
 Have high densities
 Toxic in nature
 Nondegradable

Note: Arsenic is not actually a metal but is a

semimetal i.e. its properties are intermediate
between those of metals and nonmetals.
Toxicity of heavy metals
 Mercury is highly toxic in vapor form but lead,
cadmium and arsenic are more toxic in their
cationic form
 Toxicity arises from strong affinity of the heavy
metal cations for sulfur
 Medicinal treatment for heavy metal poisoning is
done by chelation therapy by administering
compounds known as chelates
Example : British Anti-Lewisite(BAL), ethylene
diamine tetra acetic acid(EDTA).
Mercury
 Most volatile of all metals
 Highly toxic in vapor form
 Liquid mercury itself is not highly toxic, and most of
that ingested is excreted
Sources of Mercury
 Elemental mercury is employed in many applications
due to its unusual property of being a liquid that
conducts electricity
 Used in electrical switches, fluorescent light bulbs
and mercury lamps
 Emission of mercury vapor from large industrial
operations
 Unregulated burning of coal and fuel oil
 Incineration of municipal wastes
 Emissions from mercury containing products :
batteries, thermometers, etc.
 Mercury amalgams: dental fillings
Health effects (Toxicity)
 Skin burns
 Irritation of nose and skin
 Rashes
 Excessive perspiration
 Damage to the kidneys
 Damage to vision
 Minamata disease
 Dysfunctions of the central nervous
system
 Loss of hearing and muscle coordination
 Severe brain damage
 Death
Lead
 Has a very low melting point of 327 degrees C
 Used as a structural metal in ancient times and
for weather proofing buildings
 Romans used it in water ducts and in cooking
vessels
 Analysis of ice-core samples from Greenland
indicate that atmospheric lead concentration
reached a peak in roman times that was not
equaled again until the renaissance
Sources of lead
 Commonly used in the building industry
for roofing and flashing and for
soundproofing
 Used in pipes
 When combined with tin, it forms solder,
used in electronics and in other
applications to make connections
between solid metals
 Lead is also used in ammunition
Note: Lead shots have been banned in
United States, Canada, Netherlands,
Norway and Denmark
 Lead is used in batteries and sinkers in
fishing
Sources
 Used in paints
Lead chromate is the yellow pigment used in
paints usually applied to school buses. Lead
is also used in corrosion-resistant paints and
has a bright red color
 Used in ceramics and dishware
The leaching of lead from glazed ceramics
used to prepare food is a major source of
dietary lead, especially in Mexico
 In the past, lead salts were used as coloring
agents in various foods
 Lead is used in some types of PVC mini-blinds
Health effects(Toxicity)
 At high levels, inorganic lead is a general metabolic
poison
 Lead poisoning effects the neurological and
reproductive systems, example: downfall of roman
empire
 Lead breaks the blood-brain barrier and interferes
with the normal development of brain in infants
Health effects
 Lead is observed to lower IQ levels in children
 Lead is transferred postnatally from the mother in
her breast milk
 At elevated levels, lead poisoning would eventually
result in death
Facts about lead poisoning
 The human groups most at risk of lead poisoning
are fetuses and children under the age of seven
 Chronic lead poisoning from wine and other
sources is one of the factors in the downfall of
the roman empire
 Episodes of lead poisoning were recorded
through the middle ages and even until recent
times
 A recent study in Mexico indicated that pregnant
women can decrease the lead levels in their
blood and presumably in the blood of their
developing fetus by taking calcium supplements.
Cadmium
 Cadmium lies in the same subgroup of the
periodic table as zinc and mercury, but is more
similar to zinc
 Coal burning is the main source of
environmental cadmium
 Incineration of wastes containing cadmium is
an important source of the metal in the
environment
 Cadmium is most toxic in its ionic form unlike
mercury
Note: Mercury is most toxic in vapor form and
lead, cadmium and arsenic are most toxic in
their ionic forms.
Sources of Cadmium
 Cadmium is used as an electrode in “nicad”
batteries
 Cadmium is used as a pigment in paints(yellow
color)
 It is also used in photovoltaic devices and in TV
screens
 Cigarette smoke
 Fertilizers and pesticides
Note: The greatest proportion of our exposure to
cadmium comes from our food supply- seafood,
organ meats, particularly kidneys, and also from
potatoes, rice, and other grains.
Health effects(Toxicity)
 Severe pain in joints
 Bone diseases
 Kidney problems
 Its lifetime in the body is several years
 Areas of greatest risk are Japan and central
Europe
 In very high levels it poses serious health
problems related to bones, liver and kidneys and
can eventually cause death.
Arsenic
 Arsenic oxides were the common poisons used for
murder and suicide from roman times through to the
middle ages
 Arsenic compounds were used widely as pesticides
before the organic chemicals era
 Arsenic is very much similar to phosphorous
Sources of Arsenic
 Pesticides
 Mining, smelting of gold, lead, copper and nickel
 Production of iron and steel
 Combustion of coal
 Leachate from abandoned gold mines
 Used as a wood preservative
 Herbicides
 Tobacco smoke
 Wallpaper paste and pigments in wallpaper
Health effects (Toxicity)
 Birth defects
 Carcinogen:
Lung cancer results from the inhalation of
arsenic and probably also from its ingestion. Skin
and liver cancer, and perhaps cancers of the
bladder and kidneys, arise from ingested arsenic
 Gastrointestinal damage
 Severe vomiting
 Diarrhea
 Death
Recent studies on arsenic
exposure
 Arsenic emitted from a copper-smelting plant
in Bulgaria has been shown recently to have
produced a three-fold increase in birth defects
in new born children in that area
 Most daily exposure of arsenic by north
American adults is due to food intake,
especially of meat and seafood
 Under humid conditions of molds in wallpaper
paste and arsenic pigments in wallpaper,
instances of mysterious illness and death have
been reported
Chromium
• Introduction
 Steel grey lustrous brittle, hard, odorless solid
 metal.
 Trivalent chromium Cr (III) is an essential metal.
 Cr (VI) compounds are principle substance of all
 chromium chemicals used in production of stainless
 steel and magnetic tapes; anti-corrosive in cooking
 systems; boilers; oil-drilling muds; hip replacements;
 gasoline additive; electrical conductors; catalyst;
glass
 Sources
• ● Brocoli, Liver and Brewers yeast
• ● Potatoes, sea food and meats also contain
chromium
• ●Green beans: 1 cup contains 2 mcg
• ●Cement producing plants
• ●Tobbaco smoke
• ●Chromium based catalytic converter
 Toxicity
 Hexa chromium also called chromium(VI), is
hemotoxic, genotoxic, and carcinogenic.
 When hexavelent chromium enters the bloodstream,
it damages blood cells by causing oxidation
reactions.
 This oxidative damage can lead to hemolysis and,
ultimately, kidney and liver failure.
 Patients might be treated with dialysis.
 Damage to the vision.
The End