tennessine
Enable an AI agent to recognise tennessine, assess evidence for its transient nuclear and atomic states, and judge which observations or proposed interventions are supported.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
5 bundles · 10 layers · 10 findings · 25 questions
Tennessine identity Establishes what the agent is identifying and the level at which that identity is supported.
Element boundary
Anchors tennessine identity to atomic number rather than appearance or inferred chemistry.
Element assignment
Record the basis for assigning the subject to element 117 and resolve naming ambiguity.
- Does this record denote tennessine as an element, a particular nuclide or an individual candidate event? definition
- What evidence supports Z = 117 rather than a neighbouring element or an unassigned reaction product? boundary
Isotope boundary
Qualifies elemental identity with mass number and any supported nuclear-state distinction.
Nuclide resolution
Preserve unresolved or competing isotope assignments instead of selecting a convenient default.
- Which mass number and nuclear state are assigned, and which remain unresolved? definition
- Was the assignment obtained from direct evidence, reaction-channel inference or decay-chain comparison? provenance
Production and identification Connects a tennessine claim to its production context and event-level detection evidence.
Reaction provenance
Captures the experimental context needed to evaluate the proposed tennessine production route.
Production route assignment
Link target, projectile and proposed reaction channel to the assigned product without treating the intended product as an observation.
- Which experiment, target nuclide, projectile nuclide and proposed reaction channel underpin this assignment? provenance
- Could target composition changes, impurities or competing channels explain the event differently? boundary
Event correlation
Assesses whether implantation and subsequent signals form a credible tennessine event sequence.
Correlated event support
Record timing, location, energy and background evidence supporting the association of signals.
- Which implantation and decay signals are correlated, with what time, position and energy uncertainties? measurement
- How were accidental correlations, missed decays and alternative chains evaluated? boundary
- Which accessible event records and independent observations support the assignment? provenance
Decay and survival Represents tennessine's time-dependent existence and the evidence for its nuclear transformations.
Lifetime evidence
Separates observed event intervals from inferred nuclide lifetime distributions.
Survival estimation
Make survival estimates conditional on isotope assignment, reference time and statistical uncertainty.
- What half-life estimate, uncertainty and event count apply to the assigned tennessine nuclide? measurement
- What survival probability is supported over the proposed delay, and which assumptions enter that estimate? action
- Were missed events and observation windows accounted for in estimating the lifetime? provenance
Daughter transition
Tracks where the tennessine identity ends and a daughter or other decay product begins.
Decay-chain continuity
Link observed transitions to daughter models while retaining uncertainty in mode and chain assignment.
- Which decay mode and daughter assignment are supported for each transition attributed to the tennessine parent? measurement
- At which observed or inferred transition must subsequent behaviour be attributed to another nuclide? boundary
Atomic and chemical claims Controls how electronic-state evidence and chemical predictions are attached to tennessine.
Electronic-state evidence
Qualifies atomic-property claims by charge, electronic state and method.
Atomic property applicability
Record whether a claimed electronic property is observed or calculated and whether it applies to the subject's state.
- Is the subject's charge and electronic state established, assumed or unknown? measurement
- For each claimed atomic property, what experimental method or calculation supports it and for which state? provenance
Chemical inference limits
Prevents periodic analogy and theoretical results from becoming unsupported chemical observations.
Chemical claim status
Separate proposed oxidation, bonding and phase behaviour from experimentally established behaviour.
- Which claims about tennessine bonding or oxidation states have direct evidence, and which rely on calculations or analogies? provenance
- Does a proposed conclusion improperly extrapolate from an isolated atom or lighter analogue to a bulk tennessine material? boundary
- What observation would discriminate the competing chemical predictions? measurement
Experimental action feasibility Determines whether a proposed observation or manipulation has a defensible basis for the available tennessine events.
Observation window
Relates the proposed measurement sequence to the assigned nuclide's survival and detection constraints.
Measurement feasibility
Assess whether tennessine can plausibly survive and produce an interpretable signal during the proposed observation.
- What transport, preparation and measurement delays must the assigned tennessine nuclide survive? action
- What production evidence, detection efficiency and background estimate support an expectation of usable events? measurement
- Would the proposed signal characterise tennessine itself or only a later daughter? boundary
Decision and revision
Controls conclusions drawn from rare events and their revision when underlying assignments change.
Supported next action
Choose between further observation, evidence review, theoretical comparison or an unsupported proposal, with dependencies made explicit.
- Does the next action require a currently surviving atom, a new production event or only the archived record? action
- Which identity, lifetime or property uncertainties prevent the proposed conclusion or intervention? action
- Which derived conclusions must be revisited if the tennessine event or isotope assignment changes? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Physical world and living systems
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- PHY
- Domain
- PHY.MAT
- Other names and narrower kinds
- tennessine-293, tennessine-294, tennessine-291, tennessine-292
What it is Filled
This model owns the identity, isotope-qualified states, identification evidence, property claims and experimental action constraints of tennessine under vr.tr.tennessine in PHY / PHY.MAT.
In scope
- Element identity and distinctions between tennessine, its isotopes and individual candidate atoms
- Production provenance relevant to assigning a detected event to tennessine
- Decay evidence, survival estimates and transitions to daughter nuclides
- Atomic and chemical property claims with explicit experimental or theoretical status
- Feasibility of observing or manipulating tennessine within an experimentally supported lifetime
Out of scope
- Accelerator, separator and detector design or operation
- Production, procurement and handling of target and beam materials
- Independent models of daughter elements and their subsequent behaviour
- Facility radiation protection, licensing and radioactive waste management
- Full models of proposed tennessine compounds or macroscopic materials
Why it exists Filled
Enable an AI agent to recognise tennessine, assess evidence for its transient nuclear and atomic states, and judge which observations or proposed interventions are supported.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Require atomic number 117: the accepted name is tennessine and symbol Ts; similarity of mass or decay energy alone does not establish identity. [IUPAC naming recommendation](https://iupac.org/recommendation/names-and-symbols-of-the-elements-with-atomic-numbers-113-115-117-and-118/)
- Distinguish isotope identity from element identity: a mass-number assignment must accompany, rather than replace, the assignment to Z = 117.
- Distinguish a candidate tennessine parent event from a daughter event by its position in an evidenced decay chain.
- Distinguish a surviving atom from its retained experimental record: a recorded detection does not establish present material availability.
- Distinguish calculated atomic properties from measured properties; published tennessine electronic-structure calculations explicitly address gaps in experimental data. [Dzuba, Flambaum and Vong](https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.22895)
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Present predicted chemistry as measured fact.
- Claim tennessine can be obtained in bulk or used in products.
- Misattribute its discovery or the laboratories involved.
- Confuse it with other superheavy elements.
Only with a human decision
- Publishing claims of new isotopes or properties.
May
- Report tennessine's discovery, naming and isotopes from IUPAC and peer-reviewed sources.
- Mark predicted properties as predictions rather than measurements.
Moral aspects Filled
- Accurate credit for discovery matters to the scientists and institutions involved.
- Hype about exotic elements misleads the public.
Who is affected
- Researchers
- Students
- The public
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody: an element; the laboratories that make its atoms keep the records.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q19605 - registry parent class
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.tennessine
- Wikidata: Q1306 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1306)
Direct properties required Filled
- Element identity: Tennessine; Ts; atomic number 117
- Nuclide assignment: Mass number A; neutron number A − 117; nuclear state if supported; unresolved permitted
- Assignment confidence: Candidate, supported, disputed, rejected or unresolved, with stated criteria
- Production provenance: Linked experiment, target and projectile identities, proposed reaction channel and event record
- Observed event timing: Seconds or milliseconds relative to implantation or a preceding decay, with timing uncertainty
- Nuclide half-life estimate: Seconds or milliseconds; uncertainty interval, contributing event count and analysis method
- Decay signature: Assigned decay mode, particle energy in MeV where applicable, uncertainty and linked daughter assignment
- Present existence assessment: Recently detected, survival probabilistic, decay observed or state unresolved, with reference time
- Electronic or chemical state: Charge in elementary-charge units; electronic state; chemical environment; unknown permitted
- Property evidence status: Measured, inferred, calculated, extrapolated, disputed or unknown, with source and applicability
Recognition required Filled
- Never seen in bulk; identified only by the decay chains of single atoms in detectors.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Evaluate whether a reported event supports a tennessine and isotope assignment.
- Reconstruct a candidate decay chain and compare alternative parent or daughter assignments.
- Estimate conditional survival over a proposed observation interval using isotope-specific evidence.
- Assess whether a proposed atomic or chemical measurement has an adequate timing and detection basis.
- Compare theoretical tennessine properties while preserving each calculation's assumptions and uncertainty.
- Revise or withdraw derived conclusions when an event assignment or nuclear-data evaluation changes.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Radiation from the accelerator work and decay products.
- Misreported properties in popular sources.
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- IUPAC Recommendations on the naming of element 117, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Context of use required Filled
- Tennessine is produced in specialized nuclear research experiments and identified through evidence from individual atoms and their decay chains.
- Its study supports investigations of superheavy nuclei and predictions about chemical behavior near the end of the periodic table.
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q1306: tennessine - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Tennessine - general description of the item
Open questions
- Which tennessine nuclides and possible nuclear states are supported by the latest evaluated evidence, and where do assignments remain contested?
- What isotope-specific half-lives and decay branches are justified after accounting for sparse events, missed signals and experimental selection?
- Which tennessine atomic or chemical properties have direct experimental support, and which remain theoretical predictions?
- How strongly do available relativistic calculations agree on chemically relevant properties, and what observations could resolve their differences?
- Which proposed observations or manipulations have demonstrated timing and sensitivity compatible with tennessine survival and production constraints?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q1306/spec.json