Tin 50 Sn 118.710(7)   Switch element to... actinium aluminium aluminum americium antimony argon arsenic astatine barium berkelium beryllium bismuth bohrium boron bromine cadmium caesium calcium californium carbon cerium cesium chlorine chromium cobalt copper curium darmstadtium dubnium dysprosium einsteinium erbium europium fermium fluorine francium gadolinium gallium germanium gold hafnium hassium helium holmium hydrogen indium iodine iridium iron krypton lanthanum lawrencium lead lithium lutetium magnesium manganese meitnerium mendelevium mercury molybdenum neodymium neon neptunium nickel niobium nitrogen nobelium osmium oxygen palladium phosphorus platinum plutonium polonium potassium praseodymium promethium protactinium radium radon rhenium rhodium roentgenium rubidium ruthenium rutherfordium samarium scandium seaborgium selenium silicon silver sodium strontium sulfur sulphur tantalum technetium tellurium terbium thallium thorium thulium tin titanium tungsten ununbium ununhexium ununoctium ununpentium ununquadium ununtrium uranium vanadium xenon ytterbium yttrium zinc zirconium Go adjacent... Ga Ge As In Sn Sb Tl Pb Bi

The essentials

Description 

Here is a brief description of tin.

• Standard state: solid at 298 K
• Colour: silvery lustrous grey
• Classification: Metallic
• Availability:

  tin is available in many forms including bars, foil, granules, powder, nanosized activated powder, shot, wire, sticks, ingots, and "mossy tin". Small and large samples of tin foil, sheet, wire, and ingot can be purchased from Advent Research Materials via their web catalogue.

Ordinary tin is a silvery-white metal, is malleable, somewhat ductile, and has a highly crystalline structure. Due to the breaking of these crystals, a "tin cry" is heard when a bar is bent. The element has two allotropic forms. On warming, grey, or α-tin, with a cubic structure, changes at 13.2°C into white, or β-tin, the ordinary form of the metal. White tin has a tetragonal structure. When tin is cooled below 13.2°C, it changes slowly from white to grey. This change is affected by impurities such as aluminium and zinc, and can be prevented by small additions of antimony or bismuth. The conversion was first noted as growths on organ pipes in European cathedrals, where it was thought to be the devils work. This conversion was also speculated to be caused microorganisms and was called "tin plague" or "tin disease".

Tin resists distilled, sea, and soft tap water, but is attacked by strong acids, alkalis, and acid salts. Oxygen in solution accelerates the attack. When heated in air, tin forms SnO₂. It is, or was, used to plate steel, making "tin cans". Tin is used as one component in bell metals.

Isolation

THere is normally little need to isolate tin metal in the laboratory as it is readily available commercially. Tin is commonly available as the mineral cassiterite, SnO₂. Reduction of this dioxide with burning coal results in tin metal and was probably how tin was made by the ancients.

SnO₂ + 2C → Sn + 2CO

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