Mesopotamia, Balkans
elements
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Tin
- Tin was discovered
- as an impurity in copper ore
- that made copper stronger
- and easier to cast
- into something useful
- and beautiful.
- Arsenic, also an impurity
- in copper ore,
- seemed just as good
- but turned out to be toxic,
- so pretty soon people
- were mining tin to make bronze.
Atomic number 50
- Cassiterite, stannite, cylindrite,
- franckeite, canfieldite, and teallite,
- are the ores found in granite and purple placer deposits.
- Halide compounds such as stannous chloride,
- organotin hydrides such as tributyltin hydride,
- organotin compounds such as diethyltin diiodide
- are the useful and toxic chemicals.
- Tributyltin oxide used as a wood preservative
- and antifouling paint for ships
- are banned for toxicity to marine life,
- but by itself tin is totally non-toxic.
- Tin solder, tinsmith, cookie tins,
- tin plating, tin cans, tin badges,
- pewter is mostly tin, bronze a fifth tin,
- organ pipes of tin or tin alloy,
- terne, lead and zinc alloyed with tin, for steel plating,
- stannous fluoride used for dental fillings,
- are the cultural artifacts.
- If you put a tin farthing in my tin cup,
- I’ll shine up my tin talisman
- and invoke the tintinnabulation of the bells—
Tin mistakes
- They said that Napoleon’s army froze in Russia
- because their buttons were reduced to powder from tin pest,
- but no survivors told of problems with buttons.
- They said that Buddhist singing bowls
- are made of the five Buddhas or the seven metals,
- but really they contain only copper and tin.
- They said that the goat on the garbage heap
- ate tin cans but he was really
- chewing the labels glued with something tasty.
- and they said tin soldiers had no hearts
- but they died the same as any other soldiers
- with just as much pain and blood.
A tin mine, especially in Cornwall or Devon, is called a stannary. The Latin word for tin was stannum, possibly borrowed from the Celtic. The chemical symbol for tin is Sn.
See also in The book of science:
Readings on wikipedia:
Other readings: