Dumb Question about Oxidation

This is probably a really dumb question, but I can't find a clearly spelled out for me yes or no answer by searching through google, so hopefully I'll get a yes or no answer her. Can metals, for example lead, be oxidized by being submerged in boiling water? 




Nope definitely not lead, but yes for a few of the metals.


There are different reason why things oxidize and reduces


To have a thing oxidize, you need another thing that reduces


To oxidize, the thing (like Pb you say) has to lose electrons and become more positive. Reduction is vice versa.


Water has to reduce in order to oxidize Pb.


However, water is a very persistent compound, it doesn't change chemically after heated to high temperatures (boiling). Neither does it want electrons. And so without doubt water is very useless here.


Pb on the other hand, is not very keen on giving out electrons (at least compared to water), both of them (even when heated) does not interfere with each other and no chemical change is observed.


But.


Some metals have a grudge on electrons and would lose it very rapidly. For example Group 1 metals like sodium
Compare to sodium, water's resolve to reject electrons is very weak, and such, when Na is in contact with cold water, Na rapidly provides electrons to water.
This process is very quick and it produces hydrogen gas, and we can see it catching on fire.
Caution: do not touch the liquid after having water react with sodium.


So, yes, some metals do oxidize when contact with water, but also, no, some don't, at least for lead.


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