Chemistry 25 The Lead Project: Lead in Soil from Vehicle Emissions – a collaboration in science, mathematics, & writing between Harvey Mudd College and local elementary schools

Lead has been used by humanity for 5000 years, and as such has a long allegorical, social, chemical, and environmental history. The image above reflects ancient understanding of lead as symbolized by the planet/god Saturn. He is depicted as consuming his children, an apparent reference to the image of death and rebirth during cupellation, the purification of silver from lead. Taken from Sublime Lead: The Biography of a 5000 Year Toxic Love Affair, Alanah Fitch, © 2004.

1. Sampling form
2. Using GPS
3. Coring sampling technique
4. Transfer to sieve and homoginization
5. Coning, quartering, and transfer to Whirl-pak
6. Filtration

Prior Results:

• In the fall of 2005 Chemistry 25 surveyed the Bernard Field Station, or BFS. The final results are availabe for viewing, along with historical photographs of the Field Station area. The BFS is located on Claremont's Foothill Blvd, old US Route 66.
• In the fall of 2006 Chemistry 25 surveyed Wheeler Park adjacent to Vista del Valle Elementary School in Claremont. The final results are availabe for viewing,
• In the fall of 2007 Chemistry 25 surveyed Oakmont Elementary School at the junction of Arrow Highway and College Ave. The final results are available for viewing.

Additional Resources:

Lead

1. An overview of lead, its chemistry, minerology, biochemistry and relationship with humanity. Sublime Lead: The Biography of a 5000 Year Toxic Love Affair, Alanah Fitch, © 2004.
   1. Setting the Stage
   2. Man Asks Lead Out: Mines and Mining
   3. Alchemy and Mineal Acids
   4. The Physiological Relationship Between Lead and Humanity
   5. The Lead Industry Under Siege
2. Three excellent overviews of Fuels and Society from the National Science Foundation-sponsored Chemcases.com
   1. Fuels and Society -- Chemistry and History of Automotive Fuels
   2. Fuels and Society -- Sixty Years of Tetraethyllead
   3. Fuels and Society -- How Lead was Finally Removed from Gasoline
3. William Kovarik's (the author of the piece you read on Kettering) overview of tetraethyl lead, with links on history, public policy, historical points of reference, other scholarship, and other points of view.
4. Advertising. A gallery of ads by Ethyl Corporation promoting tetraethyl lead in gasoline from 1927 - 1942.
5. History
   1. Nriagu; A History of Global Metal Pollution Science 1996, 272(5259) 223-224.
   2. Hong et al.; Greenland Ice Evidence of Hemispheric Lead Pollution Two Millennia Ago by Greek and Roman Civilizations Science 1994, 265(5180) 1841-1843.
   3. Aufderheide et al.; Lead in Bone II: Skeletal-Lead Content as an Indicator of Lifetime Lead Ingestion and the Social Correlates in an Archaeological Population American Journal of Physical Anthropology 1981, 55, 285-291.
   4. Aufderheide et al.; Anthropological Applications of Skeletal Lead Analysis American Anthropologist 1998, 90(4) 932-936.
   5. Beethoven Suffered from Lead Poisoning, a recent report on National Public Radio's All Things Considered.
6. Scientific Ethics. Were the original studies of pediatric lead poisoning intentionally biased by the investigator? The Needleman controversy.
   1. Ernhart and Scarr; Lead Study Challenge Science 1992, 255(5046) 783-784.
   2. Ernhart, Scarr, and Geneson; On Being aWhistleblower: The Needleman Case Ethics & Behavior, 1993, 3(1) 73-93.
   3. Needleman; Reply to Ernhart, Scarr, and Geneson Ethics & Behavior 1993, 3(1) 95-101.
   4. Scarr and Ernhart; Of Whistleblowers, Investigators, and Judges Ethics & Behavior 1993, 3(2) 199-206.
7. Legal. The Supreme Court upholds the Pregnancy Discrimination Act which forbids sex-specific fetal-protection policies. Automobile Workers vs. Johnson Controls 499 US 187 (1991)
8. Sources of lead and its movement in the environment. The Lead Development Association's On-Line Fact Book, chapter 6.
9. Public Policy
   1. Commentary: Scoen; Childhood Lead and Tainted Science Technology 1999, 6, 261-268.
   2. risk communication
      1. Silbergeld; Preventing Lead Poisoning in Children Annual Review of Public Health 1997, 18, 187-210.
      2. Center for Disease Control and Prevenion's Entertainment Education Resources for TV Writers and Producers
   3. environmental justice
      1. The Environmental Justice and Health Union
      2. environmental justice from the standpoint of Rising Tide.
      3. The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law clearinghouse review on lead and environmental justice.
10. Toxicity
    1. Medical synopsis: lead toxicity
    2. Medical synopsis: lead encephalopathy
    3. Canfield et al., Intellectual Impairment in Children with Blood Lead Concentrations below 10 µg per Deciliter New England Journal of Medicine 2003, 348, 1517-1526.
11. Global Perspective
    1. Nriagu et al.; Lead poisoning of children in Africa, II. Kwazulu/Natal, South Africa The Science of the Total Environment 1997 197, 1-11.
    2. Nriagu et al.; Lead poisoning of children in Africa, III. Kaduna, Nigeria The Science of the Total Environment 1997, 197, 13-19.
    3. Editorial: Phasing out leaded gasoline will not end lead poisoning in developing countries Environmental Health Perspectives 1996, 104.
12. Other commentaries
    1. Jamie Lincoln Kitman, The Secret History of Lead, The Nation, March 20, 2000.
    2. The Lead Development Association website.
13. Current Events
    1. Wayne County Michigan deals with lead-contaminated playgrounds.
    2. The Orange County Register's series on lead in Mexican candy.
14. A Summary of Studies Addressing the Source of Soil-Lead. Volume I: Technical Summary. US Environmental Protection Agency, February 1998. EPA 747-R-98-001A

Peer Editing

• Colorado State's "How can I get the most out of peer editing?"
• Hampshire College peer editing guide for students and faculty
• Hunter College peer editing guide

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