Transition metal · element 43
Technetium
The first element made by humans. Never found in nature.
Only 4.4% of people are Technetium. (estimated)
If you're Technetium
You don't quite fit anywhere, and you were never supposed to. Unstable, rare, artificial in the best sense: people had to invent you to see what you'd do.
Technetium has no stable isotope; every atom on Earth was made in a lab or a reactor, and it's used in millions of medical scans a year.
How to get along with Technetium
Do
- Give them a purpose; they were made for one.
- Accept that they don't fit the natural categories.
- Use their brief, bright usefulness while it lasts.
Don't
- Don't ask them to be stable long-term.
- Don't make them feel artificial for not being 'natural'.
When it goes wrong: They decay on schedule, not on demand. Plan for the half-life instead of fighting it.
Atomic profile
Every element is placed on six personality dimensions derived from its chemistry. Your answers are placed on the same six, and the closest element wins. How the scoring works
- Reactivity
- 5
- Sociability
- 5
- Stability
- 2
- Energy
- 5
- Rarity
- 9
- Warmth
- 4
Technetium in literature
- The Creature — Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (1818)
- Ozma — Ozma of Oz, L. Frank Baum (1907)
- Tik-Tok — Ozma of Oz, L. Frank Baum (1907)
Characters from public-domain works, chosen for the same traits. Company, not a verdict.
Closest personalities
The elements whose profiles sit nearest to Technetium's. If you got Technetium, one of these was probably your runner-up.
Other transition metals
ScScandiumTiTitaniumVVanadiumCrChromiumMnManganeseFeIronCoCobaltNiNickelCuCopperZnZincYYttriumZrZirconiumNbNiobiumMoMolybdenumRuRutheniumRhRhodiumPdPalladiumAgSilverCdCadmiumHfHafniumTaTantalumWTungstenReRheniumOsOsmiumIrIridiumPtPlatinumAuGoldHgMercuryRfRutherfordiumDbDubniumSgSeaborgiumBhBohriumHsHassiumMtMeitneriumDsDarmstadtiumRgRoentgeniumCnCopernicium