Tin is a soft, silvery metal that people have been using for thousands of years. It doesn't rust easily, which makes it perfect for protecting other metals. When you see a “tin can” in your pantry, you're actually looking at steel coated with a thin layer of tin to keep the food inside fresh and the can from rusting.

Ancient people discovered that mixing tin with copper creates bronze, a much stronger metal than either one alone. This discovery was so important that historians named an entire era after it: the Bronze Age. Without tin, civilizations couldn't have made strong tools, weapons, or artwork.

Tin is also useful because it melts at a relatively low temperature. Plumbers use tin mixed with other metals to create solder, which joins pipes together. Electronics manufacturers use it too, soldering tiny components onto circuit boards.

People sometimes call any metal container a “tin,” even if it contains no actual tin at all. A cookie tin or a mint tin might be made entirely of steel or aluminum. The word became so associated with small metal containers that it stuck, even as the materials changed.