Chemical element · Atomic number 52
Tellurium
Tellurium in the periodic table: atomic number 52, electron configuration, atomic mass, physical data, oxidation states, media credit and visible sources.
Metalloid
solid
127.6 u
Documented element samplePieces of the element tellurium at a purity of 99.99 percent.
Image credit: Jan Anskeit
Auto-oriented, limited to 1600 × 1200 pixels and re-encoded as WebP; the subject was not altered.
Atomic classification
Shell occupancy
Tellurium in the Bohr shell model
This shows the electron distribution of the neutral atom in a simplified shell model.
- K · n=1
- 2 electrons
- L · n=2
- 8 electrons
- M · n=3
- 18 electrons
- N · n=4
- 18 electrons
- O · n=5
- 6 electrons
- Electron configuration
- [Kr]5s2 4d10 5p4
- Electrons per shell
- 2 · 8 · 18 · 18 · 6
- Group
- 16
- Period
- 5
- Block
- P
- Element category
- Metalloid
Physical and chemical properties
- Atomic mass
- 127.6 u
- Standard state
- solid
- Density
- 6.232 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 722.66 K
- Boiling point
- 1,261 K
- Electronegativity
- 2.1 (Pauling)
- First ionisation energy
- 9.01 eV
- Oxidation states
- +6, +4, -2
- Discovery
- 1782
Safety and periodic classification
Safety
Safe handling cannot be inferred from Tellurium's position in the periodic table alone. Laboratory, classroom and disposal decisions must follow the documentation for the exact material and its safety data sheet.
Position and comparison
Tellurium is in period 5, group 16 and the P block. Its direct neighbours by atomic number are Antimony and Iodine. The recorded Pauling electronegativity is 2.1. Periodic trends are compared only through the separately sourced neighbouring values.
Sources and scope
PubChem attributes element data to sources including IUPAC, NIST and IAEA. Quanta stores the referenced snapshot locally and leaves unknown values unavailable.
Where Tellurium sits among the 118 elements
The table compares the reported values for Tellurium with every other element that carries the same value in the snapshot. A rank is not a judgement, it is orientation: it says how unusual this value is across the periodic table.
| Value | Tellurium | Position in the data set |
|---|---|---|
| Melting point | 722.66 K | Rank 70 of 103 elements with a reported value. Highest: Carbon. |
| Boiling point | 1,261 K | Rank 68 of 93 elements with a reported value. Highest: Rhenium. |
| Density | 6.232 g/cm³ | Rank 56 of 96 elements with a reported value. Highest: Osmium. |
| Electronegativity (Pauling) | 2.1 | Rank 26 of 95 elements with a reported value. Highest: Fluorine. |
| Ionisation energy | 9.01 eV | Rank 25 of 102 elements with a reported value. Highest: Helium. |
All values and ranks come from the PubChem Periodic Table snapshot, retrieved on 2026-07-15. Elements without a reported value are excluded, so the population differs per row.
The neighbours of Tellurium in the periodic table
- Place in the table
- Group 16, period 5, P block. Classified as metalloid, solid at standard conditions.
- Direct neighbours
- Atomic number 52. Preceded by Antimony, followed by Iodine.
- Same group
- Same number of outer electrons, and therefore similar reactivity to Oxygen, Sulfur, Selenium, Polonium, Livermorium.
- Discovery
- Recorded in the snapshot as: 1782. Who, where and under what circumstances is not part of that record, so this page carries the sourced year and no discovery narrative.
- Oxidation states
- +6, +4, -2. They follow from the electron configuration [Kr]5s2 4d10 5p4 and indicate which compounds to expect.
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