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117TsTennessine[294]

Halogen

Tennessine (Ts)

“The only element named after Tennessee — a Russian-born halogen whose target material was brewed for the better part of a year in that very American state.”

View group 17 →View period 7 →

Atomic number117

Atomic mass[294]

Group17

Period7

BlockP-block

PhaseSolid

Electron structure

How its electrons are arranged

[Rn] 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7s² 7p⁵

Shell 1

2e⁻

Shell 2

8e⁻

Shell 3

18e⁻

Shell 4

32e⁻

Shell 5

32e⁻

Shell 6

18e⁻

Shell 7

7e⁻

Computed from the aufbau principle, with known real-world exceptions applied automatically.

🎯 Exam focus

Questions to practise

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1What precious ingredient did Oak Ridge in Tennessee spend about 250 days making for tennessine, and how was it turned into atoms in Russia?

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2Why do theoretical chemists treat tennessine as a benchmark for testing relativistic effects on halogen chemistry?

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3Tennessine made Tennessee the second US state with an element named after it — which state came first, and how did Tennessee earn the honour?

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4Calculations say tennessine attracts electrons more weakly than iodine — which relativistic splitting of its 7p electrons is responsible?

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5Tennessine’s configuration ends in 7s²7p⁵ — give its group, period and block, and explain why chemists debate its halogen credentials.

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6Element 117’s name ends with the unusual suffix “-ine” — why did chemists insist on a halogen-style ending, and what does the root “tenness-” honour?

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The notes

About the element

Characteristics

A wholly artificial halogen: every tennessine atom ever made was assembled in an accelerator, a few atoms per experiment.
Its atoms decay well within a tenth of a second — the half-life of Ts-294 is measured in mere tens of milliseconds.
Relativity splits its 7p electrons so unevenly that tennessine is predicted to attract electrons less strongly than iodine — a strangely reluctant halogen.
Theorists expect a volatile, semi-metallic solid; the halogens already trend metallic down the group, and tennessine should finish that drift.

Appearance

No bottle of tennessine will ever exist — it has been made only a few atoms at a time, each vanishing almost instantly. Calculations predict something no halogen has ever been: a semi-metallic, weakly reactive solid instead of a clearly nonmetallic halogen.

Real world

Where you meet it

✦ Uses

A stringent test of relativistic quantum chemistry: predictions that tennessine’s electron affinity and bonds differ from iodine’s are a benchmark for theory at the table’s edge.
The berkelium-target campaign that created it proved actinide production on the twenty-milligram scale — the enabling technology for any future bid at elements 119 and 120.
Comparing Ts-293 and Ts-294 decay energies with theory tightens nuclear models inside the predicted island of stability.
Its decay chains help calibrate the ultrafast alpha detectors used in every superheavy-element hunt.

◍ Everyday examples

Tennessine made Tennessee only the second US state on the periodic table — California named californium first — a favourite science-quiz fact.
Group 17 in the NCTB textbook — fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine — now officially ends with tennessine, its strangest and heaviest member.
The 2016 batch naming of tennessine completed the periodic table’s seventh row — newspapers on every continent carried the story, and table posters were updated everywhere.

Story

History & name

Tennessine was born of an extraordinary relay across the Atlantic: Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee irradiated targets in its High Flux Isotope Reactor for some 250 days to brew just 22 milligrams of berkelium-249, the precious material was purified and shipped to Russia, and in 2009–10 Dubna’s U-400 cyclotron pounded it with calcium-48 ions. The result, announced in April 2010, was a few atoms of Ts-293 and Ts-294. A second berkelium campaign in 2012 clinched the case, IUPAC recognised the discovery in December 2015, and in November 2016 the element took its place as tennessine — honouring Tennessee and carrying the “-ine” ending of the halogen family.

Name originHonours Tennessee, home of Oak Ridge National Laboratory — the second US state after California to lend its name to an element, with the halogen “-ine” ending.