More than five thousand years ago, humanity discovered a metal that changed the course of history. Copper alone was too soft for weapons and tools. But add a little tin, and you get bronze — an alloy so revolutionary it named an entire era. The Bronze Age was, in essence, the Age of Tin.
Today tin is just as vital. Every circuit board in your phone is soldered with tin-based solder. Food cans are lined with a thin tin coating. Even modern window glass is manufactured on a bath of molten tin. A quiet, unassuming metal — yet without it, half of modern industry would grind to a halt.
Tin is a soft, silvery-white metal you can bend with your bare hands. In nature, it occurs mostly as the mineral cassiterite (SnO₂). The largest deposits are in China, Indonesia, and Myanmar. Tin has a unique quirk: when you bend a tin bar, it produces a characteristic crackling sound known as the 'tin cry.' And in freezing temperatures, it can crumble into gray powder — a phenomenon called 'tin pest.'
Metallic tin and its inorganic compounds are considered safe. Tin is non-toxic on skin contact and approved for food packaging. However, organic tin compounds (trimethyltin, tributyltin) are extremely dangerous: they damage the nervous system and can accumulate in the body. Prolonged inhalation of tin oxide dust causes stannosis, a benign lung condition.
Bend a tin bar and you'll hear a crackling sound — the 'tin cry.' It's caused by crystal grains deforming and sliding past each other. No other metal 'talks' quite like this.
Below 13.2 °C, white tin slowly transforms into gray powder. This 'tin pest' has destroyed museum artifacts and, according to legend, the tin buttons on Napoleon's soldiers' uniforms during the 1812 Russian campaign.
Bronze — an alloy of copper and tin — gave its name to an entire historical era (3300-1200 BCE). Without tin, humanity would have had no swords, shields, or early coins.
The world uses over 300,000 tons of tin every year. Nearly half goes into electronic solder — every chip in your smartphone is soldered with tin.
Legend has it that tin buttons on Napoleon's army uniforms disintegrated from tin pest during the march on Moscow in 1812. Historians debate the story, but the physics checks out: tin really does crumble in the cold.
All modern flat glass is made using the 'float process' — molten glass is poured onto a bath of molten tin. This gives the glass a perfectly smooth, even surface.
| Isotope | Mass (u) | Abundance | Half-life | Decay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
112Sn | 111.904818 | 0.97% | stable | — |
114Sn | 113.902779 | 0.66% | stable | — |
115Sn | 114.903342 | 0.34% | stable | — |
116Sn | 115.901741 | 14.54% | stable | — |
117Sn | 116.902952 | 7.68% | stable | — |
118Sn | 117.901603 | 24.22% | stable | — |
119Sn | 118.903308 | 8.59% | stable | — |
120Sn | 119.902195 | 32.58% | stable | — |
122Sn | 121.903439 | 4.63% | stable | — |
124Sn | 123.905274 | 5.79% | stable | — |
Known since antiquity