See Also: Technetium(medicine)
technetium(dictionary)
Technetium tc 99m tsc(health)
Technetium tc 99m mpi mdp(health)
Technetium tc 99m maa(health)
Technetium tc 99m hsa(health)
technetium-99m(medicine)
technetium-99(medicine)
technetium(encyclopedia)
technetium compounds(medicine)

technetium (sh)




Metallic chemical element, one of the transition elements, chemical symbol Tc, atomic number 43.

All its isotopes are radioactive (see radioactivity); some occur in trace amounts in nature as nuclear fission products of uranium. Its isotope technetium-97 was the first element artificially produced (1937; see cyclotron). Technetium-99, a fission product of nuclear reactors that emits gamma rays, is the most-used tracer isotope in nuclear medicine. Technetium resembles platinum in appearance and manganese and rhenium in chemical behaviour. It is also used as a metallurgical tracer and in corrosion-resistant products.