---
title: "Tennessine (Ts) — element 117"
description: "Tennessine is element 117, symbol Ts, most stable isotope 294. Configuration, properties, uses and neighbours."
url: https://atoneplace.net/element/tennessine/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Tennessine (Ts)

**Tennessine — element 117: Ts**

[294] · Halogen · period 7, group 17

Tennessine was the last of the seventh period to be filled in, and making it required 22 milligrams of berkelium-249 grown over two years in Oak Ridge's reactor, flown to Russia, and bombarded before it decayed — the target had a shelf life of months. Six atoms were produced in the first campaign. It is filed as a halogen because it sits in group 17, but calculations suggest it would not behave like one: relativistic effects should make the −1 state unfavourable, so tennessine may be closer to a metal than to iodine.

## Properties

- **Atomic number:** 117
- **Symbol:** Ts
- **Mass number of most stable isotope:** [294]
- **Category:** Halogen
- **Group:** 17
- **Period:** 7
- **Block:** p-block
- **Electron configuration:** [Rn] 7s² 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7p⁵
- **Electrons per shell:** 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 7
- **Oxidation states:** +5, +3, +1, -1
- **Discovered:** 2010 by A Dubna, Oak Ridge, Livermore and Vanderbilt collaboration

## Electron configuration

- **Full:** 1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 4s² 3d¹⁰ 4p⁶ 5s² 4d¹⁰ 5p⁶ 6s² 4f¹⁴ 5d¹⁰ 6p⁶ 7s² 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7p⁵
- **Noble gas shorthand:** [Rn] 7s² 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7p⁵
- **Shells:** K: 2 · L: 8 · M: 18 · N: 32 · O: 32 · P: 18 · Q: 7

## What it is used for

- Research only; no application outside the laboratory

## Hazards

- Intensely radioactive; exists only as individual atoms in an accelerator

> Melting point, boiling point, density and electronegativity are omitted: no measurement is possible. Named for the state of Tennessee, the second US state to have an element named after it after California. The mass given is the mass number of tennessine-294, the longest-lived at roughly 50 milliseconds.

> Several physical properties are not listed for tennessine because no bulk sample has ever existed. Only a handful of atoms have been produced, often with half-lives measured in seconds, so published melting points and densities for elements in this range are calculations rather than measurements. They are omitted rather than presented as observed values.

## Neighbours in the table

| Z | Element | Symbol | Mass |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 115 | Moscovium | Mc | [290] |
| 116 | Livermorium | Lv | [293] |
| 117 | Tennessine ← | Ts | [294] |
| 118 | Oganesson | Og | [294] |

## Group 17

Elements in the same group share their outer electron count, which is why they behave similarly in reactions. Tennessine sits in group 17 with fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, astatine.

## Common questions

### What is the atomic number of tennessine?

117. That is the number of protons in its nucleus, which is what defines the element.

### What is the symbol for tennessine?

Ts.

### What is the electron configuration of tennessine?

1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 4s² 3d¹⁰ 4p⁶ 5s² 4d¹⁰ 5p⁶ 6s² 4f¹⁴ 5d¹⁰ 6p⁶ 7s² 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7p⁵, or [Rn] 7s² 5f¹⁴ 6d¹⁰ 7p⁵ in noble-gas shorthand.

## Related pages

- [Moscovium (Mc)](https://atoneplace.net/element/moscovium/)
- [Livermorium (Lv)](https://atoneplace.net/element/livermorium/)
- [Oganesson (Og)](https://atoneplace.net/element/oganesson/)
- [Fluorine (F)](https://atoneplace.net/element/fluorine/)
- [Chlorine (Cl)](https://atoneplace.net/element/chlorine/)
- [Bromine (Br)](https://atoneplace.net/element/bromine/)
- [Iodine (I)](https://atoneplace.net/element/iodine/)
- [Astatine (At)](https://atoneplace.net/element/astatine/)

## Sources

- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)