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When I was a child I was taught that ingesting lead caused insanity and brain damage. I was taught that the use of lead pipes was one of the main factors that c
by calibas 2y ago
When I was a child I was taught that ingesting lead caused insanity and brain damage. I was taught that the use of lead pipes was one of the main factors that caused the Roman Empire to fall. It was implied that modern man was smarter than that now and we stopped using lead in pipes.
As an adult, I learned that lead was still used in water pipes. Even the more recent "lead-free" pipes can still have a little bit of lead in them ("no more than 0.25% lead in the wetted surfaces").
- 1970-01-01 2y ago>It was implied that modern man was smarter than that now and we stopped using lead in pipes. We learned so much from the Romans, and then burned leaded gasoline anyway!
- dmonitor 2y agoLead causing the downfall of two major empires in history would be very funny
- spwa4 2y agoThe Roman Empire used lead to make wine sweeter, more colorful, better preserved and easier to drink. Apparently dissolving lead in wine enables humans to drink more of it and get drunker than would normally be possible. Incidentally they did the same to grape syrup.
- EasyMark 2y agoLead isn’t one of the things that sunk the Roman Empire, that is just a pop-history theory that stuck over the years for some reason. I’m sure lead did brain damage in Roman times, but that’s not why the empire died
- p3rls 2y agoThe first aqueduct went up in Rome around 300 BC. That is half-century before the Punic war... No, not that one with Hannibal... The one before that. That's a longgg fall.