Already in the 4th millennium BC, humanity learned about the existence of tin in nature. At all times, this metal was very expensive due to its inaccessibility. In this regard, references to it are rarely found in ancient Greek and Roman written sources.
Tin, together with copper, acts as one of the components of tin bronze. It was invented in the middle or end of the 3rd millennium BC. Since bronze was considered in ancient times the most durable of all alloys known to man, tin was considered as a strategic metal. This attitude towards him remained for more than 2 thousand years.
Place of Birth
The largest pools are located in Southeast Asia and China. Quite extensive deposits were also found in Australia and South America (in Peru, Brazil, Bolivia). In Russia, deposits are located in the Khabarovsk Territory, in the Solnechny District (Sobolinoe and Festivalnoe), and the Verkhnebureinsky District (Pravourmiiskoe). In addition, deposits were discovered in the Chukotka Autonomous Region. Here are the Pyrkakai stockworks, the village / mine Valkumey, Iultin. Their development was closed in the 90s. Deposits of tin are also found in Primorsky Territory, in the Kavalerovsky District, in Yakutia (Deputatsky) and other regions.
The death of the expedition to the South Pole
In 1910, Captain R. Scott, a polar explorer from England, organized an expedition. Her goal was the South Pole. At that time, man was not yet in this territory. The expedition took many months. Travelers walked through the vast expanses of the Arctic continent. Along the way, they left small warehouses with food and kerosene. By the beginning of 1912, the expedition reached the pole. However, to the great disappointment of the travelers, they found a note there, which stated that Roald Amudsen had visited here a month earlier. However, this was not the main trouble. On the way back to the very first warehouse, Scott's team found that the containers containing kerosene were empty. Frozen, tired people could neither warm themselves nor cook food. Having reached the next warehouse with great difficulty, they found that even there the canisters were empty. Having no more strength to resist the cold, all members of the expedition died.
Other metamorphoses
At the end of the century before last, the train went from Holland to Russia. There were tin bars in it. In Moscow, the cars were opened. Instead of the bars, the recipients saw an unusable gray powder. Around the same time, an expedition was sent to Siberia. She was well equipped. The organizers of the expedition provided many details so that severe frosts did not interfere with the trip. However, one mistake was still allowed. Travelers brought tin dishes with them. Soon, at the first frost, it crumbled into powder. Travelers were forced to carve dishes from wood. At the beginning of the 20th century, a scandal occurred in one of the warehouses in St. Petersburg. During the audit, it was discovered that buttons on all uniforms disappeared. Instead, there was only gray powder in the drawers. He was sent to the laboratory. According to the researchers, the metal was struck by the tin plague. According to some historians, one of the circumstances that affected the defeat of the French army in the winter of 1812 may be the disappearance of buttons from the uniforms of soldiers.
Attempts to explain the phenomenon
In all the cases described above, there was such a thing as tin plague. What it is? In 1868, Academician Fritzsche presented a report at one of the meetings of the St. Petersburg Academy. In it, he talked about how powder was found in the train instead of tin bars, how buttons were scattered in a military warehouse. After his speech, a huge number of similar messages began to come to the Academy. They all came from all over Europe, and some even from North America. It is worth saying that in the Middle Ages, ignorant churchmen believed that the tin plague was the effect on the metal of the dark forces that cause witches. Many innocent women were burned at the stake. But with the rapid development of science, the absurdity of these claims became increasingly apparent. Nevertheless, to explain how the tin plague occurs, that this, scientists could not for a very long time. Research intensified after the death of Scott's team. The fact is that the canisters in which kerosene was located were sealed with tin. The metal turned into powder, and the liquid flowed out.
Metal structure
Only after using X-ray analysis, scientists were able to explain how the tin plague occurs. This phenomenon is due to the specific structure of the metal. X-ray analysis made it possible to look inside the objects, to study their crystal structure. As a result, a scientific explanation of the phenomenon was formulated. Researchers have found that any metal can have different crystalline forms. The most stable modification at normal (room) or elevated temperature is tin. This metal is viscous and ductile. If the temperature drops below 13 degrees, the crystal lattice begins to rebuild. At the same time, atoms are located in space at a greater distance. A new modification of the metal is formed - gray tin. It loses its original properties. In fact, the metal ceases to be such and becomes a semiconductor. In the contact areas of various crystal lattices, internal stresses arise. They lead to cracking of the structure. As a result, the metal crumbles into powder. So the tin plague arises.
Nuances
It should be said that the tin plague, the photo of which is presented in the article, spreads quite quickly (almost like an epidemic in humans). The transition of one modification to another the sooner the lower the ambient temperature. The conversion speed reaches its maximum at -33 degrees. That is why frost so quickly dealt with all the products. At the same time, the tin plague passes from "sick" objects to "healthy" ones. This phenomenon has destroyed many of the most valuable collections of soldiers. For example, dozens of figures turned into powder in the archives of the Suvorov Museum in St. Petersburg. This happened because one winter the batteries burst in the basement.
"Cure" for the plague
Scientists have long been looking for a way to prevent the metal "disease". The British guild of manufacturers found a way out of the situation. They created a new alloy. Metals stabilizing its intermittent properties were added to tin. The new alloy is called "puter." It includes 95% tin, 2% copper and 5% antimony. The computer is used in the manufacture of jewelry, household items, tableware, etc. It is worth saying that the well-known America’s Cup, as well as the Oscar figurines, are made from a computer, and then coated with silver and gold plating. So they are not afraid of any tin plague.