How many outer electrons does nitrogen have

Nitrogen makes up DNA in the form of nitrogenous bases as well as in neurotransmitters. It is one of the largest industrial gases, and is produced commercially as a gas and a liquid. For many years during the 's and 's scientists hinted that there was another gas in the atmosphere besides carbon dioxide and oxygen.

It was not until the 's that scientists could prove there was in fact another gas that took up mass in the atmosphere of the Earth. Discovered in by Daniel Rutherford and independently by others such as Priestly and Cavendish who was able to remove oxygen and carbon dioxide from a contained tube full of air.

He showed that there was residual gas that did not support combustion like oxygen or carbon dioxide. While his experiment was the one that proved that nitrogen existed, other experiments were also going in London where they called the substance "burnt" or "dephlogisticated air".

Nitrogen is the fourth most abundant element in humans and it is more abundant in the known universe than carbon or silicon. Most commercially produced nitrogen gas is recovered from liquefied air. Nitrogen has two naturally occurring isotopes, nitrogen and nitrogen, which can be separated with chemical exchanges or thermal diffusion.

Nitrogen also has isotopes with 12, 13, 16, 17 masses, but they are radioactive. These two compounds are formed by decomposing organic matter that has potassium or sodium present and are often found in fertilizers and byproducts of industrial waste. Most nitrogen compounds have a positive Gibbs free energy i. This triple bond is difficult hard to break. For dinitrogen to follow the octet rule, it must have a triple bond.

Nitrogen has a total of 5 valence electrons, so doubling that, we would have a total of 10 valence electrons with two nitrogen atoms. The octet requires an atom to have 8 total electrons in order to have a full valence shell, therefore it needs to have a triple bond.

The compound is also very inert, since it has a triple bond. Triple bonds are very hard to break, so they keep their full valence shell instead of reacting with other compounds or atoms. Think of it this way, each triple bond is like a rubber band, with three rubber bands, the nitrogen atoms are very attracted to each other.

Nitrides are compounds of nitrogen with a less electronegative atom; in other words it's a compound with atoms that have a less full valence shell. These compounds form with lithium and Group 2 metals. Nitrides usually has an oxidation state of When mixed with water, nitrogen will form ammonia and, this nitride ion acts as a very strong base. When nitrogen forms with other compounds it primarily forms covalent bonds.

These compounds are typically hard, inert, and have high melting points because nitrogen's ability to form triple covalent bonds. How many valence electrons are in an atom of bromine? How many valence electrons are in carbon? Why are valence electrons responsible for the behavior of the atom? See all questions in Valence Electrons.

Impact of this question views around the world. You can reuse this answer Creative Commons License. That's not special, but the way they combine is! Look at the carbon and the nitrogen, they are sharing six electrons! When two atom share two electrons, that's a single bond. If they share four it's a double bond. Well these two are sharing six, that's a triple bond. It's extremely strong and powerful.

It would take a lot of work to separate the C and the N! One more thing!