Facts About Nitrogen: The Element

Facts About Nitrogen: Nitrogen is one of the most important elements in our world. Diatomic molecules of Nitrogen gas make up the majority of our atmosphere and it is an essential part of all amino acid and protein structures which are crucial to our survival.

Facts About Nitrogen: Isotopes of Nitrogen

The diagram of 14-Nitrogen presented on the right is a stylized representation of the real atom. The nucleus is spherical and not flat and the electron shell configuration of Nitrogen is more complex than this simple Bohr-style diagram shows.

There is only one other naturally occurring isotope, 15-Nitrogen which has one more neutron than 14-Nitrogen. Of these two natural forms, 14-Nitrogen makes up 99.6% of any Nitrogen sample. Several other isotopes if Nitrogen can be prepared synthetically, but all are highly unstable and so break down quickly, emitting radiation.

Facts About Nitrogen: The Electron Structure of Nitrogen

Nitrogen has 7 protons and therefore a neutral atom will also have 7 electrons. If we use the electron subshell filling guide we get an electron structure of 1s2 2s2 2p3. This equates to five electrons in the outer shell, giving us the electron dot diagram shown to the left.



If we want to have a more detailed visual image of the electron arrangement that shows subshell details, we can construct it as shown to the right. This image shows the electrons broken into the two shells and shows how Nitrogen ends up with 5 electrons in its outer shell.

As with all elements, Nitrogen is most stable when it has 8 outer shell electrons. Since it cannot lose all five electrons in its second shell, it will either capture three electrons from another source or share three electrons with one or more atoms.

Capturing Three Electrons

This achieves stability for Nitrogen by giving it a full outer shell of 8 electrons. In reference to the detailed electron shell filling diagram above, those three extra electrons will slot into the 2p subshell, taking it up to a total of 6 electrons and therefore 8 in the second shell, which is made up of BOTH the 2s and 2p subshells.

When this happens, Nitrogen has three more electrons than protons and so the overall charge of a Nitrogen atom that has captured electrons is -3. This is now called a negative ion.

Sharing Three Electrons

This sharing of electrons is called covalent bonding Atoms share one unpaired electron each to make complete electron pairs.

Nitrogen and the Greenhouse Effect

Diatomic Nitrogen gas, N2, is inert and makes no contribution to the Solar Greenhouse Effect. However one compound of Nitrogen called Nitrogen Trifluoride has been identified as a potential future problem.