Technetium [Tc] (CAS-ID: 7440-26-8) locate me
An: 43 N: 55 Am: [98]
Group No: 7  Group Name: (none)
Block: d-block  Period: 5
State: solid at 298 K
Colour: silvery grey metallic Classification: Metallic
Boiling Point: 4538K (4265'C)
Melting Point: 2430K (2157'C)
Density: 11g/cm3
Shell Structure diagram | Atomic Radius diagram
Isotopes | More Info
Discovery Information
Who: Carlo Perrier, Emillo Segre
When: 1937
Where: Italy
Name Origin
Greek: technetos (artificial).
Sources
Made first by bombarding molybdenum with deuterons (heavy hydrogen) in a cyclotron.
Uses
The technetium-99m isotope serves as a radiation source in medicine where it is used to locate tumours in the spleen, liver, brain, and thyroid. When 99mTc is combined with a tin compound it binds to red blood cells and can therefore be used to map circulatory system disorders. Technetium-99 is used for equipment calibration.
Notes
First artificially created element.
All isotopes of technetium are radioactive but the element and its compounds are extremely rarely found in nature.
Most technetium produced on Earth is a by-product of fission of uranium-235 in nuclear reactors and is extracted from nuclear fuel rods. On earth, technetium occurs naturally only in uranium ores as a product of spontaneous fission; the quantities are minute but have been measured.
No isotope of technetium has a half-life longer than 4.2 million years (98Tc), so its detection in red giants in 1952 helped bolster the theory that stars can produce heavier elements.
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