History and Usage of Tin

Tin is a chemical element located in the period table.Because Tin bonds easily, it has been used to coat
The symbol for Tin is Sn which is derived from Tin'slead, zinc and steel in order to prevent corrosion.
Latin name, stannum. The atomic number for Tin isContainers fashioned from steel plated with Tin are
50. Tin is a soft, malleable metal that resists corrosionused widely for preserving food, which forms a large
well and can be found in a number of alloys.part of the metallic tin market. This is why cans are
History:often called 'Tin cans', even when created from steel.
Tin is one of the earliest known metals, and has beenThere is always at least a small amount of tin
used in the past as a component of bronze. As earlyincorporated into the metal.
as 3,500 BC, Tin was used in bronze implementsOther important tin alloys include bronze, Babbitt
because if its hardening effect on copper. The miningmetal, die casting alloy, phosphor bronze, pewter,
of Tin is believed to have begun around Classicalsoft solder, bell metal and White metal. Many of the
times, in Cornwall and Devon. With the civilizations ofmetal pipes found in a pipe organ are created with a
the Mediterranean, a thriving Tin trade was allowedtin and lead alloy. Spotted metal, used in the pipes, is
to develop. After 4000 years of Tin mining increated when a 50%/50% alloy cools, and a mottled
Cornwall, the last Cornish Tin Mine was closed in 1998.or spotted effect is created when the lead cools
Although the American Heritage Dictionary speculatesslightly faster than the Tin. The amount of tin
that the word Tin was borrowed from a pre-Indopresent in organ pipes can define the pipe tone, as
European language, no one is exactly sure where theTin is one of the most tonally resonant of all metal
word Tin originated.types.
The word Tin is often used improperly in modernGlass for windows is made using what is often called
times, as people often use it as a generic phrase forthe Pilkington process, and entails floating molten hot
any sort of metal that is silver in color and available inglass atop molten hot tin, creating what is known as
thin sheets. Objects like tin foil and tin cans arefloat glass, in order to create a perfectly flat surface.
actually made out of steel or aluminum, though thereTin is also commonly used in solders, especially in
is a thin layer of tin in cans in an attempt to preventjoining pipes, electric circuits, bearing alloys, glass
rusting.making, and a wide variety of other applications.
Usage: