What is a tin plague?

Already in the IV millennium BC, mankind learned about the existence of tin in nature. At all times, this metal was very expensive because of its inaccessibility. In this connection, 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 the end of the III 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 to him persisted for over 2 thousand years.

Place of Birth

The largest basins are located in Southeast Asia and China. Quite extensive deposits were also found in Australia and South America (in Peru, Brazil, Bolivia). In Russia, the fields are located in the Khabarovsk Territory, in Solnechny District (Sobolinoye and Festivalnoye), Verkhnebureinsky District (Pravoormyskoe). In addition, deposits in the Chukotka Autonomous District have been discovered. Here are the Pyrkakai Stockwork, the village / Valkumey mine, Iultin. Their development was closed in the 90s. Tin deposits are also found in Primorsky Krai, in the Kavalerovo district, in Yakutia (Deputy) 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. Its goal was the South Pole. At that time the person was not yet in this territory. The expedition took many months. The travelers walked along the vast expanses of the Arctic continent. On 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 there a note in which it was said that Rual Amundsen visited here a month earlier. However, this was not the main trouble. On the way back to the first warehouse, Scott's team found that the containers in which the kerosene was standing were empty. Frozen, tired people could neither keep warm nor cook their food. Having reached with great difficulty until the next warehouse, they found that the canisters were empty there. Not having more strength to resist the cold, all the members of the expedition were killed.

Other metamorphoses

At the end of the century before last, a train set off from Holland to Russia. There were tin bars in it. In Moscow the cars were opened. Instead of bars, the recipients saw a useless gray powder. Around the same time an expedition was sent to Siberia. She was well-equipped. The organizers of the expedition have provided many details, so that severe frosts do not interfere with the journey. However, one mistake was still made. The travelers took with them a dish of tin. Soon, at the first frosts, it crumbled into powder. The travelers were forced to cut out the dishes from the tree. 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 disappeared on all uniforms. Instead, only gray powder was in the boxes. He was sent to the laboratory. According to the conclusion of the researchers, the metal was struck by the tin plague. According to some historians, as one of the circumstances that affected the defeat of the French army in the winter of 1812, the buttons could disappear from the uniforms of soldiers.

Attempts to explain the phenomenon

In all the cases described above, there was such a phenomenon as tin plague. What it is? In 1868, Academician Fritsche presented a report at a meeting of the Petersburg Academy. In it, he told about how in the train was found a powder instead of tin bars, as the buttons in the military warehouse were scattered. After his appearance in the Academy, a huge number of similar reports began to arrive. All of them came from all over Europe, and some from North America. It is worth saying that in the Middle Ages ignorant clerics believed that the tin plague is the impact on the metal of the dark forces that witches cause. A lot of innocent women were burned at the stake. But with the rapid development of science, the absurdity of these statements became more and more obvious. Nevertheless, to explain how the tin plague arises, what is it, scientists could not very long. Studies intensified after the death of Scott's team. The fact is that the canisters, in which the kerosene was located, were sealed with tin. The metal turned into a powder, and the liquid flowed out.

Structure of metal

Only after using the X-ray analysis, scientists were able to explain how the tin plague arises. This phenomenon is due to the specific structure of the metal. X-ray analysis allowed to look inside the objects, to study their crystal structure. As a result, a scientific explanation of the phenomenon was formulated. The researchers found that any metal can have different crystalline forms. The most stable modification at normal (room) or elevated temperature is tin. This metal is ductile and ductile. If the temperature drops below 13 deg, the crystal lattice begins to rebuild. In this case, the 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. Internal stresses arise on the contact areas of different crystal lattices. They lead to structural cracking. As a result, the metal crumbles into powder. So there is a tin plague.

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. Its maximum reaches the conversion rate at -33 degrees. That is why frosts so quickly dealt with all products. Thus the tin plague passes from "sick" objects to "healthy". This phenomenon killed many valuable collections of soldiers. For example, dozens of figures turned into powder in the archives of the museum of Suvorov in St. Petersburg. This happened because one winter in the basement burst batteries.

"Medicine" of the plague

Scientists have long been looking for a way to prevent the "disease" of metal. The way out of the situation was found by the British guild of producers. They created a new alloy. Metals have been added to the tin, which stabilize its unstable properties. The new alloy was called "puter". It includes 95% tin, 2% copper and 5% antimony. The puter is used in the manufacture of jewelry, household items, utensils, etc. It is worth saying that everyone knows the America's Cup, as well as the Oscar statuettes are made of a pewter, and then covered with silver and gold plating. So they are not afraid of any tin plague.