tin

• Description
• General information
• Physical data
• Radii
• Electronegativities
• Solid state structure
• Temperatures
• Enthalpies
• Ionization Enthalpies
• Isotopes
• Further information

Description

Ordinary tin is a silvery-white metal, is malleable, somewhat ductile, and has a highly crystalline structure. Due to the breaking of these crystals, a "tin cry" is heard when a bar is bent. The element has two allotropic forms. On warming, grey, or a-tin, with a cubic structure, changes at 13.2°C into white, or b-tin, the ordinary form of the metal. White tin has a tetragonal structure. When tin is cooled below 13.2°C, it changes slowly from white to grey. This change is affected by impurities such as aluminium and zinc, and can be prevented by small additions of antimony or bismuth. The conversion was first noted as growths on organ pipes in European cathedrals, where it was thought to be the devils work. This conversion was also speculated to be caused microorganisms and was called "tin plague" or "tin disease".

Tin resists distilled, sea, and soft tap water, but is attacked by strong acids, alkalis, and acid salts. Oxygen in solution accelerates the attack. When heated in air, tin forms SnO₂. It is, or was, used to plate steel, making "tin cans". Tin is used as one component in bell metals.

General information

Discoveror: Known since ancient times
Date discovered:
Discovered at: not known
Meaning of name: From the Anglo-Saxon word "tin" (the origin of the symbol Sn comes from the Latin word "stannum" meaning "tin")

Physical data

Standard state: solid at 298 K
Colour: silvery lustrous grey
Density of solid at ambient temperature/kg m^-3: 7310
Molar volume/cm³: 16.29

Radii /pm

Atomic: 145
Covalent (single bond):
Pauling radius for the ion [Sn]^-: 370

Valence shell orbital radius maxima (R_max)

orbital	s	p	d	f
radius	113.9	139.5	46.8	no data

Electronegativities

Both values are quoted on the Pauling scale.

Pauling: 1.88
Allred Rochow: 1.72

Crystal Structure

structure: tetragonal

The following CrystalMaker image represents the solid state structure. For most elements, the most stable allotrope is illustrated. Try WebElements version 2 for interactive virtual reality and CHIME images.

Temperatures (/K)

melting point: 505.08
boiling point: 2875

Enthalpies /kJ mol^-1

fusion: 7.0
vaporization: 293

single bond enthalpies:

Sn-F	Sn-Cl	Sn-Br	Sn-I	Sn-Sn
414	323	273	205	195.4

Ionization enthalpies /kJ mol^-1

Number	Enthalpy
1st	708.6
2nd	1411.8
3rd	2943.1
4th	3930
5th	6974

Isotopes

This section gives some data for naturally occurring isotopes.

Nominal mass	Accurate mass	% natural abundance
112Sn	111.904826 (5)	0.97 (1)
114Sn	113.902784 (4)	0.65 (1)
115Sn	114.903348 (3)	0.36 (1)
116Sn	115.901747 (3)	14.53 (11)
117Sn	116.902956 (3)	7.68 (7)
118Sn	117.901609 (3)	24.22 (11)
119Sn	118.903311 (3)	8.58 (4)
120Sn	119.9021991 (29)	32.59 (10)
122Sn	121.9034404 (30)	4.63 (3)
124Sn	123.9052743 (17)	5.79 (5)

Further Information

• Additional information about WebElements 1.2.2
• This is a licensed copy (here is the full list) of WebElements 1.2.2 and contains a subset of the material contained within the main version of WebElements (version 2)
• For further information please try WebElements version 2
• Sheffield Chemdex: perhaps the largest internet chemistry directory
• Sheffield Chemputer: interactive chemistry calculators on the WWW