TIN FOIL • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Tin foil

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/tɪn fɔɪl/ Listen

noun

Tin n.

(Chem.) An elementary substance found as an oxide in the mineral cassiterite, and reduced as a soft silvery-white crystalline metal, with a tinge of yellowish-blue, and a high luster. It is malleable at ordinary temperatures, but brittle when heated. It is softer than gold and can be beaten out into very thin strips called tinfoil. It is ductile at 2120, when it can be drawn out into wire which is not very tenacious; it melts at 4420, and at a higher temperature burns with a brilliant white light. Air and moisture act on tin very slightly. The peculiar properties of tin, especially its malleability, its brilliancy and the slowness with which it rusts make it very serviceable. With other metals it forms valuable alloys, as bronze, gun metal, bell metal, pewter and solder. It is not easily oxidized in the air, and is used chiefly to coat iron to protect it from rusting, in the form of tin foil with mercury to form the reflective surface of mirrors, and in solder, bronze, speculum metal, and other alloys. Its compounds are designated as stannous, or stannic. Symbol Sn (Stannum). Atomic weight 117.4.

Thin plates of iron covered with tin; tin plate.

Money. (Cant)

Block tin (Metal.), commercial tin, cast into blocks, and partially refined, but containing small quantities of various impurities, as copper, lead, iron, arsenic, etc.; solid tin as distinguished from tin plate; called also bar tin.

Butter of tin. (Old Chem.) See Fuming liquor of Libavius, under Fuming.

Grain tin. (Metal.) See under Grain.

Salt of tin (Dyeing), stannous chloride, especially so called when used as a mordant.

Stream tin. See under Stream.

Tin cry (Chem.), the peculiar creaking noise made when a bar of tin is bent. It is produced by the grating of the crystal granules on each other.

Tin foil, tin reduced to a thin leaf.

Tin frame (Mining), a kind of buddle used in washing tin ore.

Tin liquor, Tin mordant (Dyeing), stannous chloride, used as a mordant in dyeing and calico printing.

Tin penny, a customary duty in England, formerly paid to tithingmen for liberty to dig in tin mines. (Obs.)

Tin plate, thin sheet iron coated with tin.

Tin pyrites. See Stannite.

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Etymology of 'Tin foil'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tin foil" Quotes from Famous Books

... results in the production of an electrical charge. Herr S. Kalischer has renewed his investigations upon this point, and believes that he has proved that no electricity results from such condensation. Atmospheric vapor was condensed upon a vessel coated with tin foil, filled with ice, carefully insulated, and connected with a very sensitive electrometer. No evidence could be obtained of electricity.—Ann. der ...

— Scientific American Supplement, No. 586, March 26, 1887 • Various

... insisted on having, like Rajah Rasalu, a coat of mail; so Foster-mother had made him a tight-fitting corselet of silver tissue, in which he looked very fine indeed, as he stood brandishing a wooden sword covered with tin foil. ...

— The Adventures of Akbar • Flora Annie Steel

... called block tin, is a soft white metal with a silver-like appearance and luster; it melts readily (235 deg.) and is somewhat lighter than copper, having a density of 7.3. It is quite malleable and can be rolled out into very thin sheets, forming tin foil; most tin foil, however, contains a ...

— An Elementary Study of Chemistry • William McPherson

... fragments of clinker, gathered from stove and grate, and held firmly together by cement. Nothing could have reproduced so exactly the rough reddish stone of which the old Sleepy Hollow Church is built. The window-glass is represented by carefully framed pieces of tin foil; the gray stone of the gate-posts is imitated by sand rubbed on wooden pillars with a coating of cement. The streets are paved in much the same clever fashion. The well, the pond, the stream, are filled with water each day by the chatelaine's own careful hands. Many of the mimic creatures, ...

— The Aldine, Vol. 5, No. 1., January, 1872 - A Typographic Art Journal • Various

... well-deserved prominence was not being given to the use of tin foil and its combinations, the author decided to present a brief historical resume of the subject, together with such practical information as he possesses, before the profession in order that it may have the satisfaction ...

— Tin Foil and Its Combinations for Filling Teeth • Henry L. Ambler