People can be exposed to heavy metals though ingestion, inhalation, or contact with skin. Due to their shared high degree of toxicity, lead, cadmium, chromium, mercury, and arsenic are cause for significant public concern. Thus, toxicologists typically categorize arsenic as a heavy metal. Arsenic, which is technically categorized as a metalloid (think of a metalloid as metal-like), is quite dense and is extremely toxic in very small quantities. Elemental density and toxicity are inter-related. Others, such as lead, chromium, arsenic, and mercury are toxic even when ingested in very small quantities. Some heavy metals are essential minerals for healthy biochemical and physiological function. Examples of heavy metals include: cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb).
Chemists categorize heavy metals as elements that are at least five times denser than water.
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