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  4. The soldiers of Napolean army while at Alps during freezing winter suffered a serious problem as regards to the tin buttons of their uniforms. White metallic tin buttons got converted to grey powder. This transformation is related to

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Q. The soldiers of Napolean army while at Alps during freezing winter suffered a serious problem as regards to the tin buttons of their uniforms. White metallic tin buttons got converted to grey powder. This transformation is related to

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Solution:

Tin exists in three solid forms, grey tin, white tin and rhombic tin and all these three forms are inter convertible as $ \text{Grey}\text{White}\text{Rhombic} $ White tin is most stable form. The conversion of white tin in to grey tin takes place very slowly at 18°C. However, the temperature is low -50°C and a small amount of grey. tin is also present. The conversion becomes very rapid. This conversion is known as tin disease or tin post.