 Discovery Information |
| Who: Known to the ancients. |
|
| Name Origin |
| Symbol Sn from Latin: stannum (tin). |
|
| Sources |
| Principally found in the ore cassiterite(SnO2) and stannine (Cu2FeSnS4) in Malaya and Indonesia, Zaire and Nigeria, Bolivia and Thiland. 35 countires throughout the world mine tin. The pure metal is formed by reduction with coal. |
|
| Uses |
| Used as a coating for steel cans. Also in solder (33%Sn:67%Pb), bronze (20%Sn:80%Cu), and pewter. Stannous fluoride (SnF5), a compound of tin and fluorine is used in some toothpaste. It is also used in the manufacture of super conducting magnets. While tin has many uses in alloys, it has few uses in it's pure
elemental
form. |
|
| Notes |
| Tin becomes a superconductor below 3.72K. |
| Tin is the
element
with the greatest number of stable
isotopes
(ten). 18 additional unstable
isotopes
are known. |
