|
|
Oxidation & Electrons | Appearance & Characteristics Reactions | Compounds | Radius | Conductivity Abundance & Isotopes 
Liquid nitrogen with water vapor condensing from surrounding air. |
General:
| Name: Nitrogen | Symbol: N |
| Type: Non-Metal | Atomic weight: 14.0067 |
| Density @ 293 K: 0.0012506 g/cm3 | Atomic volume: 17.3 cm3/mol |
| Discovered: Nitrogen was discovered by Daniel Rutherford in Scotland in 1772. Rutherford removed oxygen and carbon dioxide from air and showed that the residual gas could not support combustion or living organisms. He called his discovery noxious air. | |
States
| State (s, l, g): gas | |
| Melting point: 63.05 K (210.1 oC) | Boiling point: 77.4 K (195.8 oC) |
Energies
| Specific heat capacity: 1.04 J g-1 K-1 | Heat of atomization: 473 kJ mol-1 |
| Heat of fusion: 0.720 kJ mol-1 of N2 | Heat of vaporization (sublimation): 5.57 kJ mol-1 of N2 |
| 1st ionization energy: 1402.3 kJ mol-1 | 2nd ionization energy: 2856 kJ mol-1 |
| 3rd ionization energy: 4578 kJ mol-1 | Electron affinity: -6.75 kJ mol-1 |
Oxidation & Electrons
| Shells: 2,5 | Electron configuration: [He] 2s2 2p3 |
| Minimum oxidation number: -3 | Maximum oxidation number: 5 |
| Min. common oxidation no.: -3 | Max. common oxidation no.: 5 |
| Electronegativity (Pauling Scale): 3.04 | Polarizability volume: 1.1 Å3 |
Appearance & Characteristics
| Structure: hcp (hexagonal close-packed) | Color: Colorless |
| Harmful effects: Nitrogen is non-toxic under normal conditions. Direct skin contact with liquid nitrogen causes severe frostbite. Decompression by divers or astronauts can cause the 'bends' - a potentially fatal condition when nitrogen bubbles form in the bloodstream. | Hardness: mohs |
| Characteristics: Nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, diatomic and generally inert gas at standard temperature and pressure. When heated over a ferric oxide catalyst under pressure with hydrogen, ammonia (NH3) forms (Haber process). | |
| Uses: Nitrogen is used to produce ammonia ( Haber process) and fertilizers. It is also used to manufacture nitric acid (Ostwald process) and in welding and enhanced oil recovery. Liquid nitrogen is used as a refrigerant. In the natural world, the nitrogen cycle is of crucial importance to living organisms. | |
Reactions
| Reaction with air: none | Reaction with 6 M HCl: none |
| Reaction with 15 M HNO3: none | Reaction with 6 M NaOH: none |
Compounds
| Oxide(s): N2O, NO, NO2, N2O5 | Chloride(s): NCl3 |
| Hydride(s): NH3 (ammonia), N2H4 (hydrazine), HN3 (hydrazoic acid) |
Radius
| Atomic radius: 65 pm | Ionic radius (1+ ion): pm |
| Ionic radius (2+ ion): pm | Ionic radius (3+ ion): 30 pm |
| Ionic radius (2- ion): pm | Ionic radius (1- ion): pm |
Conductivity
| Thermal conductivity: 0.02583 W m-1 K-1 | Electrical conductivity: S cm-1 |
Abundance & Isotopes
| Abundance earth's crust: 20 ppm by weight, 29 ppm by moles | |
| Abundance solar system: 1,000 ppm by weight, 90 ppm by moles | |
| Cost, pure: 0.4 $/100g | |
| Cost, bulk: $/100g | |
| Source: Commercially, nitrogen is obtained from liquid air by fractional distillation. | |
| Isotopes: Nitrogen has 12 isotopes whose half-lives are known, with mass numbers 11 to 19. Of these, two are stable: 14N and 15N. By far the most common isotope is 14N (99.634%). | |
