This is a sample of tin of high purity (99.99+ %). It has a silvery, somewhat yellowish cast.

Tin can easily be cast in all kinds of shapes. It has a low melting point. Below, a sample of 23 grams of tin is shown, in the shape of a hemisphere. It is nice and shiny. This sample also has very high purity, it was listed as 99.994% purity tin.

Tin exists in two allotropes. Another form of tin is so-called grey tin, which is not shiny. Ordinary, metallic looking tin can change into grey tin at low temperatures. The tin then becomes very brittle and sculptures, made of tin, then can even pulverize. This, however, only occurs at very low temperatures. Grey tin reverts to normal tin at room temperature, but this process is very slow. A sample of grey tin must be stored in a fridge, but it can be taken out for some time in order to make pictures of it. The picture below shows a sample of grey tin.

The following picture shows both allotropes of tin together, and this nicely shows the large difference between the two allotropes.