Often times, tin is going to be priced at most scrap yards as a per ton basis. This tin-plate is mostly steel (or iron, depending on the use and expense involved) and only 1 to 2 percent tin, which forms a coating over the metal to protect it from the elements. According to the Mohs hardness scale, a list of soft metals includes lead, gold, silver, tin, zinc, aluminum, thorium, copper, brass and bronze. Tin is an electrical conductor. A metal is a chemical element of various opaque, fusible, ductile and lustrous substances [source: Merriam-Webster]. Tin has other metallurgic application- when it is alloyed with copper, bronze is the result. BUT… tin is one of the main ingredients in electrical solder. Tin can’t be galvanized, but is sometimes alloyed with other metals to prevent corrosion. Tin is resistant to corrosion and often used as a coating for other metals such as steel. Tin is a very toxic metal and each person who has been exposed to the metal is affected in different ways, this can cause detoxification problems. Tin is also called and referred to as light iron or steel at scrap yards around the US & Canada. Most people that think of it are probably thinking of the soft metal, corrugated roofs that can last up to 60 years, but which don’t offer a lot in looks or style. What is commonly called a tin can or just a tin is actually made of steel that has been coated on either side with a very thin layer of tin. Mercury is a metal that's liquid at room temperature. But its volumetric resistivity is significantly higher than that of copper, so you won’t see it used for wires, circuit board traces, bus bars, etc. In fact, this type of roof is actually known as terneplate roof, and it may be made of any soft metal that is coated in tin … Some common metals are titanium, copper and nickel. It’s important to have yourself tested by professionals that can guide you through the detoxification process that will work for you personally. It is a soft, silvery white metal with a bluish tinge, known to the ancients in bronze, an alloy with copper. Tin is a silvery-white, soft, malleable metal that can be highly polished. Tin is widely used for plating steel cans used as food containers, in metals used for bearings, and in solder. Tin has a highly crystalline structure and when a tin bar is bent, a ‘tin cry’ is heard, due to the breaking of these crystals. Tin is an actual alloy, but in most scrap metal terms tin is known as the lightest and one of the cheaper grades of steel. The elements referred to in that definition are the same ones you studied when you learned about the periodic table of the elements in high school chemistry. As nouns the difference between metal and tin is that metal is any of a number of chemical elements in the periodic table that form a metallic bond with other metal atoms; generally shiny, somewhat malleable and hard, often a conductor of heat and electricity while tin is (uncountable) a malleable, ductile, metallic element, resistant to corrosion, with atomic number 50 and symbol sn. Beside above, is tin a metal? Tin is a naturally occurring metal of a familiar silver color. Steel makes up the bulk of the can's mass, and it is the steel that is attracted to a magnet rather than the tin itself. Gallium might also be considered a soft metal, as it melts at 85.57 degrees Fahrenheit. The term tin roof is a bit of a misnomer. Tin (Sn), a chemical element belonging to the carbon family, Group 14 (IVa) of the periodic table. The most common example is the use of tin to line the insides of beverage cans and food containers. 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