The Element Tin essays

The Element Tin essays The Element Tin is a soft, silvery-white metal that belongs to group IV of the Periodic Table. Its name may come from the German word, Zinn that describes a soft white metal with a low melting point. It has an atomic number of 50, which also means there are 50 protons in each atom of the element Tin. Tins atomic mass is 118.71. This element can be found in places such as Bolivia, which is the prime producer, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Zaire, and Nigeria. Its highly crystalline structure gives tin a slight moaning sound when it is bent. Tin has one of the lowest melting points of all metals melting at 449.5F. It remains a liquid until the temperature reaches 4,100F. This is when it turns into gas. Tin is light weighted, ductile, malleable, which means it can be easily bent. With tin being ductile, it can be easily drawn into fine wires or threads. Even though it is relatively weak, when it is mixed with other metals, it can form a wide range of alloys. Tin exist in 3 different forms: gray or alpha, a powdery form of metal stable only at 64F, white or beta, stable between 64F and 322F, and lastly, brittle or gamma, stable between 322F and 449.5F. It also has 10 natural isotopes and 27 artificial isotopes. Although tin is in greater qualities than other metals such, as gold and platinum it still is a rare metal on earth. It only makes up two parts per million of the earths crust. Although some of it is found in its purity, Tin is mostly found mixed with other minerals. One is called cassiterite. Over millions of years the minerals of tin were left in the rocks and were eventually moved by wind, water, and ice. When the minerals were washed and settled on the riverbeds alluvial deposits were formed thus making this the main source of tin minerals. Bronze, a mixture of tin and copper, was the main kind of metal used in the Bronze Age. Countries would sometimes have wars over the minerals used to make this impo...