Taken from the Greek name technetos, meaning "artificial", technetium was the first
synthetically produced element. In 1937, technetium was produced by bombarding
deuterons with
molybdenum in a
cyclotron. Later it was found among the fission products
of uranium.
Technetium is a corrosion-resistant metal. It is silvery-grey and look
much like platinum. Chemically it is a cross between
rhenium and
manganese. These elements belong to the same group
on the periodic table and it is quite common that an element will resemble its
group members. Technetium also has
superconducting properties.
Industrial applications of technetium include:
alloying (i.e. with as little as 55 part-per-million technetium) with iron to transform
iron into a corrosion-resistant alloy.
using its radioactive isotope in diagnostic medicine.
