a silvery-grey metallic element, artificially produced by bombardment of molybdenum by deuterons: used to inhibit corrosion in steel. The radioisotope technetium-99m, with a half-life of six hours, is used in radiotherapy. Symbol: Tc; atomic no: 43; half-life of most stable isotope, 97Tc: 2.6 × 106 years; valency: 0, 2, 4, 5, 6, or 7; relative density: 11.50 (calculated); melting pt: 2204°C; boiling pt: 4265°C
Word origin
C20: New Latin, from Greek tekhnētos manmade, from tekhnasthai to devise artificially, from tekhnē skill
technetium in American English
(tɛkˈniʃiəm; tɛkˈniʃəm)
noun
a silver-gray, metallic chemical element obtained by the irradiation of molybdenum with deuterons and in the fission of uranium: it does not exist in nature and all its isotopes are radioactive: it is a superconductor, an inhibitor of metal corrosion, and a medical tracer: symbol, Tc; at. no., 43
Word origin
ModL < Gr technētos, artificial (< technasthai, to contrive by art < technē: see technic) + -ium: so named (1947) by E. G. Segré (1905-89), It-American physicist, and C. Perrier,It physicist, who discovered it (1937)