Technetium
Technetium (/tɛkˈniːʃiəm/) is a chemical element with symbol Tc and atomic number 43. It is the element with the lowest atomic number in the periodic table that has no stable isotopes:every form of it is radioactive. Nearly all technetium is produced synthetically, and only minute amounts are found in nature.
At a glance
- Atomic number
- 43
- Atomic mass
- 98 u
- Phase
- Solid
- Density
- 11 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 2,430 K
- Boiling point
- 4,538 K
- First ionization energy
- 686.9 kJ/mol
- Electronegativity
- 1.9
- Electron affinity
- 53 kJ/mol
- Molar heat capacity
- 24.27 J/(mol·K)
- Period
- 5
- Appearance
- shiny gray metal
Conditions and isotopes affect measured properties. Some properties of short-lived elements are predicted. Electronegativity uses the Pauling scale.
Technetium’s orbitals use a hydrogen-like approximation. Every orbital of each visible subshell is shown: in Shapes as the surface holding half its probability, with light and dark shades for opposite signs of the wavefunction; in Cloud as dots where its electrons are likely to be. Sizes are stepped by shell, like the Shell model.
36 is the [Kr] core total across four shells.
Preparing the orbital view…
43 protons54 neutrons
Technetium-97: its most common form in nature, or its longest-lived if it has none. The nucleus is drawn far too big: it’s about 100,000 times smaller than the atom.
Turn up the heat
A step of 1 K is the same size as 1 °C, so the two scales are always 273.15 apart. Fahrenheit is different: its degrees are smaller and it starts elsewhere, so water freezes at 273.15 K, 0 °C and 32 °F.25 °C · 77 °FSolid
At this temperature, technetium is a solid.
At normal atmospheric pressure (1 atm). The temperature scale is logarithmic. The particle box is schematic: real samples hold vastly more atoms, and spacing and speeds are not to scale.
Pull the electrons off
TcNeutral atom · no charge
A neutral technetium atom. Removing its first electron takes 687 kJ/mol.
Technetium’s outer shell holds 2 electrons. Electron 3 is the first from an inner shell: it sits closer to the nucleus with less shielding, so removing it takes 1.9× as much energy as the one before. Each dashed line on the chart marks another jump, into a shell even closer to the nucleus.
What does this tell us?
- The jumps let you count electrons. Between the dashed lines there are 2, then 13, then 18, then 8, then 2 bars. Read backwards, that’s 2, 8, 18, 13, 2: the same electrons per shell as the shell model above. Jumps like these are part of the evidence that shells exist.
- The jump after technetium’s outer electrons is small (×1.9), because the electrons in the shell below have similar energies. That’s typical of transition metals, and it’s why many of them, such as iron (Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺), can form more than one kind of ion.
- Within a shell the steps rise gently. Each electron removed leaves fewer electrons pushing the others away, while the nucleus pulls just as hard, so the next one is held a little more tightly.
Show the values as a table
| Electron | Shell | Energy (kJ/mol) | × previous | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 687 | – | Measured |
| 2 | 5 | 1,472 | 2.1 | Estimated |
| 3 | 4 | 2,851 | 1.9 | Estimated |
| 4 | 4 | 3,956 | 1.4 | Calculated |
| 5 | 4 | 5,500 | 1.4 | Calculated |
| 6 | 4 | 6,947 | 1.3 | Calculated |
| 7 | 4 | 8,491 | 1.2 | Calculated |
| 8 | 4 | 14,473 | 1.7 | Calculated |
| 9 | 4 | 16,306 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 10 | 4 | 18,323 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 11 | 4 | 20,648 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 12 | 4 | 23,060 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 13 | 4 | 25,287 | 1.1 | Estimated |
| 14 | 4 | 30,007 | 1.2 | Calculated |
| 15 | 4 | 32,665 | 1.1 | Estimated |
| 16 | 3 | 58,277 | 1.8 | Calculated |
| 17 | 3 | 63,198 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 18 | 3 | 68,794 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 19 | 3 | 74,583 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 20 | 3 | 79,986 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 21 | 3 | 87,223 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 22 | 3 | 93,398 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 23 | 3 | 99,573 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 24 | 3 | 106,327 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 25 | 3 | 112,502 | 1.1 | Calculated |
| 26 | 3 | 130,641 | 1.2 | Estimated |
| 27 | 3 | 136,199 | 1 | Estimated |
| 28 | 3 | 142,750 | 1 | Estimated |
| 29 | 3 | 150,421 | 1.1 | Estimated |
| 30 | 3 | 158,043 | 1.1 | Estimated |
| 31 | 3 | 162,964 | 1 | Estimated |
| 32 | 3 | 177,340 | 1.1 | Estimated |
| 33 | 3 | 183,349 | 1 | Estimated |
| 34 | 2 | 434,666 | 2.4 | Estimated |
| 35 | 2 | 451,648 | 1 | Estimated |
| 36 | 2 | 470,270 | 1 | Estimated |
| 37 | 2 | 488,216 | 1 | Estimated |
| 38 | 2 | 517,258 | 1.1 | Estimated |
| 39 | 2 | 537,423 | 1 | Estimated |
| 40 | 2 | 563,281 | 1 | Estimated |
| 41 | 2 | 579,722 | 1 | Calculated |
| 42 | 1 | 2,412,570 | 4.2 | Calculated |
| 43 | 1 | 2,488,072 | 1 | Calculated |
Successive ionization energies of gas-phase atoms and ions from the NIST Atomic Spectra Database. Solid bars are measured; hatched bars were estimated from nearby measurements or calculated from quantum theory, as is usual for highly charged ions. Electrons are taken from the outermost shell first, a simplification: electrons in different subshells of the same shell also differ in energy. On the log scale each gridline is 10 times the one below.
Watching atoms decay
Technetium was the first element made artificially, and none of its forms is stable. Technetium-99m is used in tens of millions of medical scans a year: it gives off a gamma ray that cameras can see, then becomes technetium-99, which lingers far longer.
Half of any sample of Tc-99m decays every 6.01 hours, turning into Tc-99.
Half-lives passed (1 half-life = 6.01 hours)
No time passed · 0 half-lives · 100 of 100 atoms left
Each atom decays at a random moment, so no one can say which will go next, but about half of whatever is left goes in every half-life. The dashed curve is the prediction; the solid line is this sample. The new Tc-99 atoms decay too, on their own schedule, which the chain below follows.
From Tc-99m to stable Ru-99: 2 steps
- Tc-99mTechnetium6 hoursγdecays by gamma
- Tc-99Technetium210,000 yearsβdecays by beta
- Ru-99Rutheniumstable
Arrows show how each atom decays: α gives off an alpha particle (2 protons and 2 neutrons), β turns a neutron into a proton, γ gives off a gamma ray.
Half-lives and decay modes from the IAEA Live Chart of Nuclides (evaluated ENSDF data). The chain follows each atom’s most common decay; a few steps have rare side branches.
How does it compare?
Density
11 g/cm³24th highest of 99
Melting point
2,430 K10th highest of 96
Boiling point
4,538 K10th highest of 97
Electronegativity
1.938th highest of 96
First ionization energy
687 kJ/mol50th highest of 99
Elements 1–99 from the reference data; heavier elements are left out because only a few atoms have ever been made, so their bulk properties are predictions. First ionization energies come from NIST. Density uses a logarithmic scale, because gases are around a thousand times less dense than solids; gas densities are at 0 °C and 1 atm. Melting and boiling points are at normal pressure. Everyday temperatures and light sources in the pictures are approximate. Hover over a dot to see the element, or click it to compare.
Keep exploring
Explore the stories, imagery, and reference data in more depth. Properties with no value in the reference are marked unavailable.
- TechnetiumRoyal Society of Chemistry
- TechnetiumWikipedia
- Quantum numbers and electron configurationsPurdue
- Hydrogenic wavefunctionsNIST
- Ionization energiesNIST Atomic Spectra Database