Tennessine is a synthetic element that was discovered in 2010. It is highly radioactive and unstable element.
History and Discovery
According to the Mendeleev’s nomenclature of undiscovered elements, Tennessine was named as eka-astatine or element-117. Tennessine was synthesized by collaboration of an American-Russian team led by Yuri Oganessia working in Dubna, Russia in 2010 [1]. The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) worked with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA, and successfully created the element 117. They bombarded berkelium-249 (element 97) with calcium-48 (element20) nuclei. The initial bombardment was carried out for 70 days produced an atom of Tennessine-293. Tennessine is considered as the most recent element to be discovered. Its name was confirmed as Tennessine by International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in 2016, after the state of USA, Tennessee. Its first isotope was created in 2011. It symbol is Ts.
Tennessine
| Periodic Table Classification | Group 17 Period 7 |
|---|---|
| State at 20C | Solid (predicted) |
| Color | Semimetallic (predicted) |
| Electron Configuration | [Rn] 5f14 6d10 7s2 7p5 (predicted) |
| Electron Number | 117 |
| Proton Number | 117 |
| Electron Shell | 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 7 (predicted) |
| Density | 7.1 - 7.3 g.cm-3 at 20°C (predicted) |
| Atomic number | 117 |
| Atomic Mass | 294.00 g.mol -1 (most stable isotope) |
| Electronegativity according to Pauling | n/a |
Occurrence
Tennessine is an artificial element and does not exist in nature. In 2012, seven more atoms of tennessine were produced by the Dubna team [2].
Physical Characteristics
Tennessine is predicted to be a solid under normal conditions. Only minute amount of Tennessine-294 have been produced so far and it is not enough to carry out analysis of its physical and chemical characteristics.
Chemical Characteristics
The chemical characteristics of tennessine is not well studied yet. It is expected to be a volatile metal and would acquire low oxidation states in compounds, -1, +1, +3 and +5. Tennessine belongs to the group 17 of the periodic table which is comprised of the halogens. Due to its relativistic effects, it is presumed to differ in properties from the halogens. However, its ionization energy, boiling point and melting point will follow the trend of the halogens.
Significance and Uses
- Tennessine is used for research purposes.
Health Hazards
Tennessine is a radioactive element and requires special precautions with handling and storage.
Isotopes of Tennessine
There are two isotopes of tennessine, tennessin-293 and Tennessine-294. They are unstable and unnatural. Tennessin-293 ha a half-life of only 14 milliseconds, while tennessine-294 has a half-life of 78 milli-seconds. Tennessine-293 decay through emission of alpha particles into element moscovium, the element 115 [3].
REFERENCES
[1]. Yu. Ts. Oganessian et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 2010, 104, 142502, 4 pages.
[2]. “Russian scientists confirm 117th element”. Sputnik. 2012-06-25. Retrieved 2012-07-05
[3]. Office of Science, Nations Work Together to Discover New Element,.