Tin
Estaño (Sn, Z=50)
- Date
- c. 3000 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Mesopotamia and Anatolia
- Credited to
- Unknown (antiquity)
- Field
- Matter & energy
What was discovered
Its alloying with copper to produce bronze defined an era; the tin trade (Cornwall, Afghanistan) was key to the Bronze Age.
An element known since antiquity; the date is approximate.
What it led to
- Bronze and the Bronze Age
- Tinplate and canned food
- Soft soldering
Built on
- Cold-hammered native copperc. 8000 BCE
- Cassiterite
Made possible
- Canning (Appert method and tin can)1804-1810
- Bronze
- Tin can