One metal that we take for granted is tin, something that most of us see and handle every day in the form of “tin” cans, long used to store food. Actually, this invention dates only from the early 1800s when canning itself was invented, although tin plated iron and steel date back much earlier.
Tin is used it lots more than cans, however. Much of the tin used today is in the form of solder, used for joining other metals, particularly copper and brass, together. Formerly a 1:1 by mass mixture of tin and lead was used for soldering copper water pipes, but because of increased awareness of the dangers of lead, other solder compositions are now used for potable water.
Let us take a few minutes to explore this interesting metal.