I was just wondering that there is so much talk about heavy metal pollution and how its gets into domestic water and all that…but what exactly are the uses of heavy metals in isdustrial and commercial life…sure they use Plutonium and Uranium isotopes for nuclear reactions but the question is that are there any uses of heavy metals in everyday life that can counter the fact that heavy metals such as mercury do find their way into water systems polluting our water sources.
So what are they used for???
<b>Jedi Online</b>
<i>The first ever radioactive penguin</i>
Heavy Metal has been used for decades. Here are some potential uses.
Empowers otherwise socially marginalized young men to feel as though by emulating Heavy Metal lifestyles and iconography, they are elevating themselves socially.
Fashion and music rarely have been this tied together since the famous Vienne Riots of the 1700’s, when Mozart’s Powder My Fat Wig Tour kicked off a frenzy of young music lovers, clad in wigs.
The black eyeliner industry would be lost without Heavy Metal.
Many fine animators and in-betweeners in the early 1980’s got their start working on the ground-breaking film, Heavy Metal.
Chickens, doves, sparrows and other small birds never would have formed a Political Action Committee if it wasn’t for the truly accurate “geeking” of their kind during countless Heavy Metal performances.
Punk Rock never would have taken off.
We’d all be watching “The Nelsons” instead of “The Osbourne’s”.
Lead, mercury, cadmium, and nickel are used in batteries.
Antimony is used in semiconductors, as is arsenic.
A large portion of the mercury that is in the environment can be traced directly to coal power plant emissions. From a discussion which hibernicus and I had on my Board:
Each element has a “uses” section with it, for instance, mercury:
You can look up lead, antimony, bismuth, etc, yourself. Lead (Pb) has a long list.
Lead and mercury, in particular, have been known since antiquity and been used for a wide variety of purposes. Unfortunate, in a way, that they are so useful, since the cumalative toxicity is so problematical.
Water pipes used to be made of lead, and lead used to be a key ingredient in paint. Lead pipes and lead-based paint have been off the market for decades, although you can still find them in some older houses.
mnemosyne raised a good one. Just HOW are Catalytic Converters disposed of? They have platinum pellets in them. Are they recycled 100%, or is the platinum disposed of separately? Millions of cars, millions of pounds right there, no?
