Understanding Tennessine (Element 117)
Tennessine (Ts), with atomic number 117, is a synthetic chemical element positioned in Group 17 of the periodic table, making it a superheavy element and the second-to-last element in the seventh period. It was officially named in 2016, honouring the U.S. state of Tennessee, a hub for superheavy element research.
Natural Occurrence and Discovery
Tennessine is not found naturally on Earth. It is a synthetic element, meaning it must be created artificially in a laboratory. Its existence was first confirmed in 2010 through experiments conducted at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, involving a collaboration with U.S. laboratories, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
The synthesis of Tennessine atoms occurs through nuclear fusion reactions. In these experiments, a target of Berkelium-249 (a rare radioactive actinide element) is bombarded with accelerated ions of Calcium-48. This high-energy collision can lead to the fusion of the atomic nuclei, briefly forming an atom of Tennessine, typically isotopes like Tennessine-294.
Extraction and Industrial Uses
Due to its synthetic nature and extreme instability, Tennessine is not extracted from any natural source, nor does it have any industrial applications. The creation of Tennessine atoms is a complex, energy-intensive process involving highly specialised particle accelerators and targets of rare isotopes.
Properties and Stability
Tennessine is an extremely radioactive element with all its known isotopes having extremely short half-lives. For example, Tennessine-294, one of the more stable isotopes, has a half-life of only a few tens of milliseconds. This means that any created atoms of Tennessine decay almost instantaneously into lighter elements.
Everyday Applications of Tennessine
There are no common or everyday uses for Tennessine. The element exists only for fleeting moments, literally milliseconds, in laboratory settings. The total number of Tennessine atoms ever produced globally is extremely small, likely less than a hundred.
The primary significance of Tennessine lies in its role in scientific research, specifically in nuclear physics and chemistry. Scientists study elements like Tennessine to:
- Explore the limits of the periodic table: Investigating how many protons and neutrons an atomic nucleus can hold before becoming completely unstable.
- Test theories of nuclear structure: Understanding the forces that bind atomic nuclei together and searching for the predicted “island of stability,” where superheavy elements might have significantly longer half-lives.
- Examine relativistic effects: For very heavy elements, electrons move at speeds close to the speed of light, leading to relativistic effects that can alter chemical properties compared to lighter elements in the same group.
Because Tennessine is only produced atom by atom in highly specialised research facilities, its presence in any commercial product, household item, or industrial process, either in India or globally, is entirely absent. There are no mining operations, processing plants, or manufacturing applications related to Tennessine.