what does the lead do inside the paint??
2006-12-17 17:30:26 · 4 answers · asked by Morgan R 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Painting
I believe lead was used to strengthen the pain and make it resistant to chipping, scratching or flaking.
2006-12-17 17:35:44 · answer #1 · answered by Digital Haruspex 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
A pigment is a color added to paint. If you mix in carbon black (soot), you get a black paint. Titanium dioxide (like on a lifeguard's nose) would give a white paint. Mixing them would give a grey paint. Similarly for red, blue, etc.
Lead was used in paints as a pigment. Many different colors can be made with lead depending on what lead salt is used (several lead oxides, lead chromate, etc). Lead contains many electrons in different "electron shells" and that allows for various different colors to be emitted/absorbed when electrons jump from one energy level to another. Non-chemists would refer to those different compounds as "red lead", "white lead", etc.
Lead is still used in some artists' paints, pottery glazes, and some commercial/indstrial paints. I've tested and found it in green and blue glazed porcelin from Italy and red and yellows from Mexico (Cadium is another toxic heavy metal found in some yellow pigments).
The lead pigments were long lasting and gave paint great wear and durability (lead is a pretty maleable). Old time painters, faced with two different paints would sometimes heft two different gallons to see which one weighed more. More weight meant more lead meant a better paint. Those paints got used most on door and window trim and other impact surfaces where the added cost of the best paint was justified.
Alas, the lead is toxic, hence all the fuss ever since. Lead-based paint (LBP) has been outlawed for residential use in the USA since 1978, but when I test, there is not a lot used since 1950 (often only exterior trim). Pre-WWII, though, and houses can have screamingly high levels, even on flat walls.
2006-12-18 09:46:46 · answer #2 · answered by David in Kenai 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lead white was a popular paint until it was found to be poisounous. Nowadays it is replaced by titanium white.
2006-12-18 00:24:26 · answer #3 · answered by OE 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its used to bond the paint. Makes it chip resistant. Now-a-days theres plastic polymers that do the same thing and aren't poisonous.
2006-12-17 17:41:31 · answer #4 · answered by frith25 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋