Electron microscope images of the mineral scale on lead water pipes

The image below shows the mineral scale on the insides of a lead water pipe with no phosphate added to the tap water.

The scale bar (……….) is 3 microns (a human hair is about 80 microns).

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This shows the mineral scale on the insides of a lead water pipe when phosphate has been added to the tap water. I haven’t seen many scales looking like this but I have added it because its so beautiful. The wheatsheaf shapes structures are crystals of lead phosphate minerals. Lead phosphate minerals have a very low solubility and so by growing on the walls of the pipe they prevent lead from building up in the tap water.

The scale bar (………….) is 10 microns

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