Lead is too Heavy for Marilyn

Marilyn is Wrong Copyright © 2000 Herb Weiner. All rights reserved.

Ask Marilyn ® by Marilyn vos Savant is a column in Parade Magazine, published by PARADE, 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA. According to Parade, Marilyn vos Savant is listed in the "Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame" for "Highest IQ."

In her Parade Magazine column of November 19, 2000, neglects to answer a simple question posed by a reader.

Sorry Marilyn

Charlie Kluepfel <ChasKlu@aol.com> writes:

In today's Ask Marilyn, someone asks what it is about lead that makes it so heavy. Marilyn answers that lead has the highest density of all the metals in common use. There are two things wrong with this answer. First, it doesn't answer the question. That lead has a high density is merely another way of saying that it's heavy. She could at least have said that it's a combination of a fairly high atomic weight with a small atomic radius that allows closer packing of the atoms, or some such thing.

Second, gold and mercury are in common use, in jewelry, and in thermometers, switches, and the ever-popular barometer, respectively, and each has a higher density than lead.


http://www.wiskit.com/marilyn/lead.html last updated November 25, 2000 by herbw@wiskit.com