Tin cry

Tin cry

A tin cry is the characteristic sound heard when a bar of tin is bent. Variously described as a "screaming" or "crackling" sound, the effect is caused by the shearing of crystals in the metal. The sound is not particularly loud, despite terms like "crying" and "screaming".

The tin cry is often demonstrated as a simple science experiment. The bar of tin will "cry" repeatedly when bent until it breaks. The experiment can then be recycled by melting and recrystallizing the metal. The low melting point of tin (only 232 °C, or about 500 K) makes re-casting easy. Room temperature (300 K) is about 0.6 of its melting point, so it anneals at reasonably-low temperature as well (normalizing tin's microstructure of crystallites/grains)

Although most typical of tin, other materials, including niobium and indium, exhibit a similar effect.

"Cry of Tin" is also the name of a Belgian band.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Tin cry — Tin Tin, n. [As. tin; akin to D. tin, G. zinn, OHG. zin, Icel. & Dan. tin, Sw. tenn; of unknown origin.] 1. (Chem.) An elementary substance found as an oxide in the mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft silvery white crystalline metal, with… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • tin cry — noun The sound heard when a bar of tin is bent …   Wiktionary

  • tin cry — noun : the peculiar creaking noise made when a bar of tin is bent by twinning of the metal crystals …   Useful english dictionary

  • Tin — is a chemical element with the symbol Sn ( la. stannum) and atomic number 50. This silvery, malleable poor metal that is not easily oxidized in air and resists corrosion, is found in many alloys and is used to coat other metals to prevent… …   Wikipedia

  • Tin — Tin, n. [As. tin; akin to D. tin, G. zinn, OHG. zin, Icel. & Dan. tin, Sw. tenn; of unknown origin.] 1. (Chem.) An elementary substance found as an oxide in the mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft silvery white crystalline metal, with a… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Tin foil — Tin Tin, n. [As. tin; akin to D. tin, G. zinn, OHG. zin, Icel. & Dan. tin, Sw. tenn; of unknown origin.] 1. (Chem.) An elementary substance found as an oxide in the mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft silvery white crystalline metal, with… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Tin frame — Tin Tin, n. [As. tin; akin to D. tin, G. zinn, OHG. zin, Icel. & Dan. tin, Sw. tenn; of unknown origin.] 1. (Chem.) An elementary substance found as an oxide in the mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft silvery white crystalline metal, with… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Tin liquor — Tin Tin, n. [As. tin; akin to D. tin, G. zinn, OHG. zin, Icel. & Dan. tin, Sw. tenn; of unknown origin.] 1. (Chem.) An elementary substance found as an oxide in the mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft silvery white crystalline metal, with… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Tin mordant — Tin Tin, n. [As. tin; akin to D. tin, G. zinn, OHG. zin, Icel. & Dan. tin, Sw. tenn; of unknown origin.] 1. (Chem.) An elementary substance found as an oxide in the mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft silvery white crystalline metal, with… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Tin penny — Tin Tin, n. [As. tin; akin to D. tin, G. zinn, OHG. zin, Icel. & Dan. tin, Sw. tenn; of unknown origin.] 1. (Chem.) An elementary substance found as an oxide in the mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft silvery white crystalline metal, with… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”