Cerussite

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Cerussite

Cerussite (also known as lead carbonate or white lead
White lead

White lead is the chemical compound 2?Pb2. It was formerly used as an ingredient for lead paint and a cosmetic called Venetian Ceruse, because its Opacity quality made it a good pigment....
ore) is a mineral

Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid formed through Geology processes that has a characteristic chemical composition, a highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties....
consisting of lead

Lead

Lead is a main-group Chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metal ....
carbonate

Carbonate

In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt or ester of carbonic acid....
(PbCO₃), and an important ore

Ore

An ore is a type of Rock that contains minerals such as gemstones and metals that can be extracted through mining and refined for use. Samples of ore in the form of exceptionally beautiful crystals, exotic layering visible when sectioned or polished or metallic presentations such as large nuggets or crystalline formations of metals suc...
of lead. The name is from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
cerussa, white lead. Basic lead carbonate was first prepared by the Arabian alchemist

Alchemy and chemistry in Islam

Alchemy and chemistry in Islam refers to the study of both traditional alchemy and early practical chemistry by Islamic science in the Islamic Golden Age....
, Jabir ibn Hayyan

Geber

Geber is the Latinized form of "Jabir", with the full name of Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan , a prominent Muslim polymath: a Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam, Astronomy in medieval Islam and Islamic astrology, Inventions of the Islamic Golden Age, Geography in medieval Islam#Geology, mineralogy, and paleontology, Early Islamic philo...
(Geber), in the 8th century. Cerussa nativa was mentioned by Conrad Gessner

Conrad Gessner

Konrad Gessner was a Switzerland natural history and bibliographer. His five-volume Historiae animalium is considered the beginning of modern zoology, and the flowering plant genus Gesneria is named after him....
in 1565, and in 1832 F. S. Beudant

François Sulpice Beudant

Fran?ois Sulpice Beudant , France mineralogist and geologist, was born in Paris.He was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole Normale, and in 1811 was appointed professor of mathematics at the lyc?e of Avignon....
applied the name cruse to the mineral, whilst the present form, cerussite, is due to W.

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Encyclopedia

Mineral

Lead

Lead is a main-group Chemical element with symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metal ....
carbonate

Carbonate

In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt or ester of carbonic acid....
(PbCO₃), and an important ore

Ore

Latin

Alchemy and chemistry in Islam

Alchemy and chemistry in Islam refers to the study of both traditional alchemy and early practical chemistry by Islamic science in the Islamic Golden Age....
, Jabir ibn Hayyan

Geber

Conrad Gessner

François Sulpice Beudant

Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
lizes in the orthorhombic system and is isomorphous with aragonite

Aragonite

Aragonite is a carbonate mineral, one of the two common, naturally occurring polymorphism of calcium carbonate, calciumcarbonoxygen3....
. Like aragonite it is very frequently twinned

Crystal twinning

Crystal twinning occurs when two separate crystals share some of the same crystal lattice points in a symmetrical manner. The result is an intergrowth of two separate crystals in a variety of specific configurations....
, the compound crystals being pseudo-hexagonal in form. Three crystals are usually twinned together on two faces of the prism, producing six-rayed stellate groups with the individual crystals intercrossing at angles of nearly 60°. Crystals are of frequent occurrence and they usually have very bright and smooth faces. The mineral also occurs in compact granular masses, and sometimes in fibrous forms. The mineral is usually colorless or white, sometimes grey or greenish in tint and varies from transparent to translucent with an adamantine lustre. It is very brittle, and has a conchoid

Conchoid

Conchoid can refer to:*Conchoid , an equation discovered by the Greek mathematician Nicomedes*Conchoidal fracture, a breakage pattern characteristic to certain minerals and glasses....
al fracture. It has a Mohs hardness of 3 to 3.75 and a specific gravity

Specific gravity

Specific gravity is defined as the ratio of the density of a given solid or liquid substance to the density of water at a specific temperature and pressure, typically at 4?C and , making it a dimensionless quantity ....
of 6.5. A variety containing 7 % of zinc carbonate, replacing lead carbonate, is known as iglesiasite, from Iglesias in Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the Mediterranean islands#By area island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The island is surrounded by the France island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia and the Balearic Islands....
, where it is found.

The mineral may be readily recognized by its characteristic twinning, in conjunction with the adamantine lustre and high specific gravity. It dissolves with effervescence in dilute nitric acid

Nitric acid

Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosion and toxic strong acid that can cause severe burns....
. A blowpipe test will cause it to fuse very readily, and gives indications for lead. Finely crystallized specimens have been obtained from the Friedrichssegen mine in Lahnstein

Lahnstein

Lahnstein is a Verbandsgemeinde-free city of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the Lahn River with the Rhine, approximately south of Koblenz....
near Nassau

Nassau, Germany

For further meanings of "Nassau", see Nassau.Nassau is a town located in the Germany States of Germany of Rhineland-Palatinate. It lies in the Lahn River valley between the cities of Bad Ems and Limburg an der Lahn....
, Johanngeorgenstadt

Johanngeorgenstadt

Johanngeorgenstadt is a mining town in Saxony?s Ore Mountains, 17 km south of Aue, and 27 km northwest of Karlovy Vary. It lies in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, and right on the border with the Czech Republic, is a state-recognized health resort , and calls itself Stadt des Schwibbogens ....
in Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a States of Germany of Germany. Located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states....
, Mies

Mies

Mies is a Municipalities of Switzerland in the district of Nyon in the Cantons of Switzerland of Vaud in Switzerland.It is approximately half-way between Geneva and Nyon....
in Bohemia

Bohemia

History...
, Phoenixville in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
, Broken Hill, New South Wales

Broken Hill, New South Wales

Broken Hill is an isolated mining city and Local Government Areas of Australia in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. The world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton, has roots in the town....
; and several other localities. Delicate acicular crystals of considerable length were found long ago in the Pentire Glaze mine near St Minver

St Minver

St Minver is the name of an ecclesiastical parish, a civil parish and a village in north Cornwall, United Kingdom.The civil parish of St Minver is in Bodmin Registration District and is nominally divided into St Minver Highlands and St Minver Lowlands ....
in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall , constitutional Duchy and palatine, is a metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England of England, United Kingdom, located at the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain....
. It is often found in considerable quantities, and contains as much as 77.5% of lead.

Lead(II) carbonate is practically insoluble in neutral water (solubility product [Pb²⁺][CO_{3^2-] ˜ 1.5x10^-13 at 25 °C), but will dissolve in dilute acids.

Commercial uses
"White leadWhite lead

White lead is the chemical compound 2?Pb2. It was formerly used as an ingredient for lead paint and a cosmetic called Venetian Ceruse, because its Opacity quality made it a good pigment....
" is the key ingredient in (now discontinued) lead paintLead paint

Lead paint is paint containing lead, a heavy metals, that is used as pigment, with lead chromate and lead carbonate being the most common. Lead is also added to paint to speed drying, increase durability, retain a fresh appearance, and resist moisture that causes corrosion....
s. Ingestion of lead-based paint chips is the most common cause of lead poisoningLead poisoning

Lead poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the metal lead in the blood. Lead may cause irreversible neurological damage as well as renal disease, cardiovascular effects, and human reproduction toxicity....
in children.

Both "white lead" and lead acetateLead acetate

Lead acetate can refer to:* Lead tetraacetate , Pb4* Lead acetate , Pb2...
have been used in cosmetics throughout history, though this practice has ceased in Western countries.

See also
Venetian CeruseVenetian ceruse

Venetian ceruse, also known as "spirits of Saturn", was a skin whitening cosmetic used in the 16th century with a base of white lead. It was highly prized and widely used , even though it was known that extensive use would cause lead poisoning, leading to severe sickness or even death....
- Cerussite based cosmetic worn by Elizabeth I of EnglandElizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was List of English monarchs and Queen of Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the House of Tudor....
.}