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Technetium-99m generator
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<p>A technetium-99m generator, or colloquially a technetium cow or moly cow, is a device used to extract the metastable isotope <a href="/facts/Technetium-99m/HgIqtvrv">99mTc</a> of <a href="/facts/Technetium/MGYWNI5d">technetium</a> from a decaying sample of <a href="/facts/Molybdenum-99/gpYnY3bx">molybdenum-99</a>. 99Mo has a <a href="/facts/Half-life/kGVH8BAB">half-life</a> of 66 hours and can be easily transported over long distances to hospitals where its decay product technetium-99m (with a half-life of only 6 hours, inconvenient for transport) is extracted and used for a variety of <a href="/facts/Nuclear_medicine/L9Dzjd90">nuclear medicine</a> <a href="/facts/Technetium/MGYWNI5d">diagnostic procedures</a>, where its short half-life is very useful. </p>