Lead vs Tin
Both are post-transition metals, so they share the same broad chemistry.
The differences in plain English
- They sit in the same column, group 14, so they have the same number of outer electrons and react in similar ways; the heavier one, Lead, is usually the more reactive of the two if they are metals, and the less reactive if they are non-metals.
- Both are solids at room temperature.
- Lead is denser, about 54 per cent more than Tin (11.34 against 7.365 g/cm³).
- Lead melts at 327 °C, Tin at 232 °C.
- An atom of Lead is about 75 per cent heavier than an atom of Tin (207.21 u against 118.71 u).
- Tin pulls electrons more strongly in a bond (electronegativity 1.96 against 1.87).
Side by side
| Lead | Tin | |
|---|---|---|
| Atomic number | 82 | 50 |
| Symbol | Pb | Sn |
| Family | Post-transition metal | Post-transition metal |
| Group / period | 14 / 6 | 14 / 5 |
| State at room temperature | Solid | Solid |
| Atomic mass | 207.210 u | 118.711 u |
| Density | 11.34 g/cm³ | 7.365 g/cm³ |
| Melting point | 327 °C | 232 °C |
| Boiling point | 1749 °C | 2602 °C |
| Electronegativity | 1.87 | 1.96 |
| First ionisation energy | 715.6 kJ/mol | 708.6 kJ/mol |
| Electron configuration | [Xe] 4f14 5d10 6s2 6p2 | [Kr] 4d10 5s2 5p2 |
| Discovered by | Middle East | unknown, before 3500 BC |
Lead
Lead is a dull, bluish grey metal so soft you can scratch it with a fingernail and melt it over a camping stove. It was one of the first metals people ever smelted, and for most of history it seemed almost too useful: it kept rain off cathedrals, carried water through Roman cities, printed books and stopped engines knocking.
- Lead pollution from Roman smelters can be measured in Greenland ice cores laid down two thousand years ago.
- The lead in pencils has never been lead; it is graphite, mistaken for a lead ore when it was first mined in Cumbria.
Tin
Around five thousand years ago, someone in the ancient Near East mixed a little tin into molten copper and produced a metal harder and easier to cast than either. That alloy, bronze, gave its name to an entire age of human history. Tin has been in continuous use ever since, and it may be the least glamorous of the truly essential metals.
- A bar of pure tin makes a crackling sound when bent, called tin cry, as its crystal structure deforms.
- Below about 13 °C, white metallic tin slowly transforms into a brittle grey powder, a change known as tin pest that can crumble old pewter and tin objects.
Colour the bubbles by density or melting point and the difference jumps out.
More comparisons
Data from Periodic-Table-JSON (CC BY-SA); temperatures rounded to the nearest degree. Written by Anthony.