A chemical element with the symbol Sn and the number 50 on the Periodic Table of elements that is used as an alloy with other metals.
Tin ore is hard, heavy, and inert and can be found on every continent in the world. At the end of the twentieth century, thirty-five countries mined tin. The most common type of tin is oxide casserite. The metal is combined with lead and zinc as well as other metals because of its durability and because tin coatings prevent corrosion.
Early recorded history indicates that the Sumerians were the first people to combine tin with other metals. They discovered that the addition of tin to copper during the smelting process (a process that produced bronze) produced a stronger metal. The Sumerians combined tin with copper as early as 3500 B.C.E. at a ratio of 11 percent tin to 86 percent copper. Farming implements and weapons were the most commonly used form of bronze. An axe head containing tin has been discovered that dates back to 2500 B.C.E. The Sumerians continued to use tin for the next 500 years, until the local supply of the metal was exhausted. The Sumerians were then forced to search for the metal in other lands. Trade developed because of the need to find new sources of tin. By 1800 B.C.E., the use of tin was popular in western Asia.
Tin has been used as a compound for ceramic glaze since the ninth century B.C.E. Tiles from Assyria and Babylon contain this type of glazing. By 600 B.C.E., tin was used as a metal separately from other metals. During the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.E., the ancient Greeks combined tin with copper for their lifelike sculptures that showed the human form in motion. Before the use of bronze, sculptures were carved out of stone and the figures were static, with their arms by their sides, as in ancient Egyptian sculpture. During Roman times, tin was mined in Cornwall. Romans used tin to conduct and store water because of its noncorrosiveness. Tin continued to be prized throughout medieval times. By the fourteenth century, the tin mines of Cornwall produced 600 tons of tin annually. By the mid-nineteenth century production had increased to 9,000 tons per year but then fell after tin production shifted to Southeast Asia. After the age of discovery, the primary source of tin was South America. Today, Southeast Asia produces 50 percent of the world’s tin supply. In 1990, more than 211,000 tons of tin were mined, mainly in Southeast Asia and South America.
By the twentieth century, tin was used in the formation of lead crystal glass because the furnaces are heated to over 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit and the glass then becomes electrically conductive. The heating of the glass is achieved through an electric current conducted by electrodes manufactured from tin. Other glassware, such as jars and bottles, are also coated with a thin film of tin to strengthen them. Tin is used to coat steel containers used for food products, such as canned fruits and vegetables. Conductive tin film is used on glass for deicing windshields, security alarm glazing, and electroluminescent display screens, as well as in some double-glazing windows. Tin is used in marine paints because of its anticorrosion properties. Industrial uses include the use of tin in chemical processes like oil production as well as air purification devices and gas masks. Tin is also used in some agricultural chemicals designed to prevent fungus from forming on crops, such as sugar beets, potatoes, beans, carrots, celery, and coffee.
Cynthia Clark Northrup
See also: Sculpture; South America; Southeast Asia.
Burgert, Philip, ed. “Tin.” AMM News (www.amm.com/ref/tin.htm, accessed December 2003).
Tin Technology. “Uses of Tin Chemicals” (www.tintechnology.com/chemicals/detail/library_/uses%200f%20tin%20chemicals.htm, accessed December 2003).