Tin Planet Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sn

'Sn' is the element symbol for tin because it comes from the Latin 'stannum', which means an alloy of silver and lead. It was previously known as 'plumbum candidum', or 'white lead'. Ti is titanium, Au is gold and Tn is the former symbol for tungsten.

Answer: Cornwall

The name 'stannum' is actually thought to come from a Cornish word, 'stean'. Cornwall once had a thriving tin mining industry, and the Cornish pasty, being large and filling, was a handy snack for tin miners. Stannary law is a law that specifically relates to tin mining in Cornwall and the nearby county of Devon. Principle mining areas included Redruth, Penwith and St Agnes.

When tin mines began to run out, Cornish miners relocated abroad to places such as Australia. The final tin mine in Cornwall, at South Crofty, was closed in 1998, although reopening the mine has been considered, as there are still tin deposits in the area.

Answer: It does not corrode.

'Tin can' is actually a misnomer, as the cans were made with a combination of tin and steel. Tin is not corrosive and does not contaminate food, which is why it was initially used in canning; nowadays, aluminium is used instead. Peter Durand, a British merchant, came up with the idea of using tin-plated steel to can food in 1810, and Thomas Kensett & Co patented the tin can in the USA in 1828.

It became a handy food container for soldiers during the US Civil War. In the mid-20th century, aluminium began to replace tin as the main metal used for canning, as it was cheaper and lighter.

Answer: True

The use of tin dates back as far as 3000 BC, with bronze objects containing small amounts of tin. Tin was added to copper to make it harder and more durable, making it useful for creating weapons. Because it was, and still is, one of the rarer naturally occurring metals, it often had to be transported for great distances to satisfy the international demand.

As well as Devon and Cornwall, other areas with tin deposits included southern European countries, the Ore Mountains on the Czech/German border, the French region of Brittany, and further afield, the 'tin belt' from China to the Malay peninsula. One group of Bronze Age artefacts found in the Balkans contained various tin isotopes, suggesting the tin used in them had come from different areas.

Answer: Tin cry

Tin cry, or tin scream, is a misnomer; the noise made when a piece of tin is bent is more like a crunching or crackling sound. The noise is caused by a phenomenon called crystal twinning, which is when a pair of separate crystals share lattice points, and which occurs when the tin is bent.

The atoms of the tin move rapidly and create a sound wave. Because tin melts easily, it is possible to make it 'cry' over and over again by melting and re-crystallising it. Other metals such as niobium and cadmium have the same effect when bent.

Answer: Pewter

Pewter, like tin, has been in use since the Bronze Age. Along with tin, it contains small amounts of antimony, bismuth, copper or, in some cases, silver. The copper and antimony are added for hardening purposes. The name 'pewter' is thought to come from 'spelter', a type of zinc alloy.

The Romans and Egyptians mainly used it for tableware and decorative items. In medieval Europe, there were three kinds of pewter in use; fine metal for tableware, trifling mead for holloware such as teapots, and lay metal for items non-food and drink-related items. Trifling and lay metal both contained lead, which made them more susceptible to tarnishing and darker in colour. Pewter was later replaced by porcelain and other ceramics, but came back into fashion in the later nineteenth century as a metal used for decorative objects, and is still in use for such purposes today.

Answer: Tin pest

Tin pest sounds like some kind of insect, but it's actually the name for a process which is also known as tin leprosy, due to the deterioration it causes to tin objects. At temperatures below 13.2C, tin becomes brittle, and once the process starts, it catalyses itself; in other words, it speeds up.

Although the story about tin pest destroying the buttons of Napoleon's soldiers during the Russian winter is an urban legend, J. Fritzsche reported in the German Chemistry Association's 1869 journal that blocks of tin left out in the cold became loose and crumbled to dust between fingers. Tin pest was also thought to have caused leaks in tins carried by Robert Scott and his team on their journey to the South Pole.

In more recent times, tin pest has occurred in electrical devices as the result of using solder made purely from tin.

Answer: Cassiterite

Cassiterite, with the chemical formula of SnO2, is the main source of tin. To obtain tin, it is roasted in a furnace with carbon. Places in which it can be found include hydrothermal veins in Bolivia, surface deposits on Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, and alluvial deposits (deposits caused by sediment being eroded away, transported by water and deposited elsewhere) in the Maakhir region of Somalia.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, cassiterite has been the source of conflict, with armed groups fighting for control of areas containing cassiterite deposits.

Answer: Alpha-tin and beta-tin

White tin, or beta-tin, is the form tin takes at room temperature. It is malleable, while grey tin - or alpha-tin - is brittle, and has a diamond cubic structure. It is duller in colour and powdery. Tin pest occurs as a result of beta-tin spontaneously transforming into alpha-tin at low temperatures. Unlike beta-tin, alpha-tin has few uses, though it can make a semiconductor; however, Chinese researchers have been able to use it as a superconductor by substrate engineering and experimenting with layers. Stanene, a material made from single-layer grey tin, is thought to have excellent conducting properties.

Answer: Glass

To be precise, it's a type of glass called float glass, which is made by pouring molten glass onto a bath of molten tin; the glass floats on top of the tin, creating a level surface. Its thickness can be controlled by drawing off the glass from the bath at different speeds as it cools and solidifies. Soda-lime glass is the most common type of glass made using this process, as it is relatively cheap, hard and chemically stable.

The Pilkington process is named after the British glass manufacturing company Pilkington, who patented the process at their factory in St Helens in Lancashire. Because of its relatively low melting point of 231.93 °C, tin is an ideal metal for this process.