[Cyankiwi]

I know that questions like these probably don't get asked all too often around these parts, but I have a genuine concern over lead in an electronic keyboard that I might be purchasing, and I would like input from chemists; I'm certain that one keyboard that I'm interested in has lead solder on the circuit board. While I know that this wouldn't alarm most people, it concerns me because I've thought a lot about the properties of lead - soft, malleable, and dangerous in dust form. Is it possible that with the electric current and heat that is present in any electronics product, the lead could somehow degrade, posing a health threat over several years of prolonged use? Music is virtually my only interest, and I'm going to be spending a lot of time in close contact with whatever electronic keyboard I do decide to get... But then again, lead is in other products on the circuit board level. I just really don't know. I'm quite obsessive, if you can tell. I just would like some solid facts based on what anyone might know about how lead behaves and reacts under different circumstances. Is there any reason to worry? I'm not trying to be some kind of health nut or hippie, but I cannot dismiss the fact that there is no safe threshold for lead exposure... thank you for your time!

[Arkcon]

Wow, there's a lot here, and I'm going to try to work with you.  First, I hope you'll trouble yourself to read the forum rules, in Red, at the top of the page.  They'll tell you, no matter how dedicated an amateur chemist you are, or how important the answer is to you otherwise, we don't dump complete answers.  So you'll have to work through your problem, for your own benefit, when the next problem of a similar type comes up.

I know that questions like these probably don't get asked all too often around these parts, but I have a genuine concern over lead in an electronic keyboard that I might be purchasing, and I would like input from chemists; I'm certain that one keyboard that I'm interested in has lead solder on the circuit board.

This is clear and easy to understand.

While I know that this wouldn't alarm most people, it concerns me because I've thought a lot about the properties of lead - soft, malleable, and dangerous in dust form.

How sure are you of these properties?  How do you know them, if you're a novice.  What do they mean, in the context of this question?  How is "soft" different from "malleable" and why do they matter for the concern you're having in this question?  It would be disappointing, if this turns out to be just random jargon you threw in, so I'd like you to back up your inclusion of these properties in this question, or withdraw them from consideration.  If you do, we can make the problem easier to understand.

Is it possible that with the electric current and heat that is present in any electronics product, the lead could somehow degrade, posing a health threat over several years of prolonged use?

Degrade from what, into what?  Do you expect electronics heat to affect lead in a particular way? Can you consider other effects?

Music is virtually my only interest, and I'm going to be spending a lot of time in close contact with whatever electronic keyboard I do decide to get...

Not pertinent to the question you're asking, but hey, its important to you.  Lets keep such chatter to a minimum when working on a problem though -- your block of breathless text was long enough as it is.

But then again, lead is in other products on the circuit board level. I just really don't know. I'm quite obsessive, if you can tell.

I'm glad you said this, I was going to direct you to look up this topic more thoroughly so you could understand how pervasive this phenomena would have to be to be significant.

I just would like some solid facts based on what anyone might know about how lead behaves and reacts under different circumstances. Is there any reason to worry?

I don't have specific answers for you, but some other expert may chime in.

I'm not trying to be some kind of health nut or hippie, but I cannot dismiss the fact that there is no safe threshold for lead exposure... thank you for your time!

Oh sure you are.  Everyone can click on your name and see your last thread for evidence.

[Cyankiwi]

I'm really sorry if I annoyed you - I can understand why it would. I can see why you thought I was using jargon in an empty sense - perhaps I did use too many words for the same thing - softness. I tend to associate softness with a general weakness of form, from ore to solder. I guess the nightmare I keep replaying in my head would be one in which the weakness of the metal leads to tiny, tiny bits of lead gradually straying from the larger soldered structures, eventually finding their way out of the metal enclosure of the case. That is probably the most horrid description of chemical events in terms of accuracy that could be dreamed up around here, comparable to what a toddler might dribble, but no toxin can be contained indefinitely in a given location, so I guess the real question would be how long I could expect something like that to last. A decade? A lifetime? Let me know what you think, and again, sorry to annoy/waste your time with elementary matters.

[Borek]

I have a prescription for you. In immortal words of Jerome K. Jerome:

1 lb. beefsteak, with
1 pt. bitter beer

                                              every 6 hours.

1 ten-mile walk every morning.

1 bed at 11 sharp every night.

And don’t stuff up your head with things you don’t understand.

[Enthalpy]

Do not worry about solid lead in electronic circuits. It will stay at the circuit, and even if some brutal malfunction lets it melt, it won't make any significant vapour. Ingesting lead would be unhealthy as well, but do you chew electronic boards?

As an electronics engineer, I used lead solder for decades, and so did all my colleagues. To use it, we melt solder under our nose. Absolutely nothing happens.

The only concern, which led the European Union ban lead solder, is when electronic garbage lands on the landfill, and this means lead in Nature. Though:
- Lead solder, containing 63% tin, resists corrosion.
- Electronic garbage is very much recycled, because it contains gold. At the same operation, recyclers grasp the valuable tin, hence lead as well.
- The replacement solder is a sh*t that doesn't solder anything. The profession is very angry.
- The same EU that banned solid lead, which nobody chews nor sniffs, accepts power-saving lamps which contain mercury. When a lamp breaks, its mercury evaporates in your room and you breathe it. Essentially the same effect as lead, but this one does have a contamination path.