Technetium (Tc)
"The Artificial Avenger, the first hero to be created in a lab rather than found in nature."
A memorable persona to anchor Tc in your mind.
11.5
Grams per cm³
2157
Celsius (°C)
209
Radius (pm)
Daily Life Link
Technetium is found as a radioactive tracer used for medical imaging scans.
Discovery & History
Year Discovered
1937
Discovered By
Carlo Perrier & Emilio Segrè
Origin of Name
"The name is derived from the Greek ''tekhnetos'' meaning artificial."
Technical Properties
Atomic Mass
[98] u
Standard State
solid
Boiling Point
4262°C
Electron Configuration
[Kr] 4d55s2
1st Ionization Energy
7.28 eV
Electron Affinity
N/A
Oxidation States
"Technetium is a silvery-gray, radioactive metal."
Did You Know?
It was the very first element to be produced artificially in a laboratory, in 1937.
Its name comes from the Greek word 'technetos', which means 'artificial'.
It is the lightest element in the periodic table that has no stable isotopes; all of its forms are radioactive.
The isotope technetium-99m is the most commonly used medical radioisotope in the world, used in millions of diagnostic procedures every year to image organs like the brain, heart, and kidneys.