Comparing the melting points of solder, tin and lead

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A macro photograph of a length of tin being melted using a soldering iron

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Test the melting points of lead, tin and solder to investigate solder as a solid mixture and alloy in this practical. Includes kit list and safety instructions.

Electric solder is an alloy of tin with one or more other metals. In this experiment, students heat samples of tin, lead and tin–lead solder to compare their melting points, observing that the metal alloy has a much lower melting point than either of the pure metals.

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