Nitrogen (N)

Colourless, gaseous element which belongs to group 15 of the periodic table. Constitutes ~78% of the atmosphere and is an essential part of the ecosystem. Nitrogen for industrial purposes is acquired by the fractional distillation of liquid air. Chemically inactive, reactive generally only at high temperatures or in electrical discharges. It was discovered in 1772 by D. Rutherford.

Atomic Number	7
Atomic Weight	14.007
Mass Number	14

Group	15
Period	2
Block	p

Protons	7 p⁺
Neutrons	7 n⁰
Electrons	7 e^-

Properties

Energy
Atomic Radius	65 pm 179 pm
Molar Volume	17.3 cm³/mol
Covalent Radius	71 pm 60 pm 54 pm 65 pm 71 pm
Metallic Radius	53 pm
Ionic Radius	146 pm 16 pm -10.4 pm 13 pm
Crystal Radius	132 pm 30 pm 4.4 pm 27 pm
Van der Waals Radius	160 pm 155 pm 366.21 pm 155 pm 193 pm 164 pm 366 pm
Density	0.001145 g/cm³
Proton Affinity	342.2 kJ/mol
Electron Affinity	-1.4 eV/particle
Ionization Energy	14.53413 eV/particle 29.60125 eV/particle 47.4453 eV/particle 77.4735 eV/particle 97.89013 eV/particle 552.06731 eV/particle 667.04609 eV/particle

Heat of Vaporization
Heat of Fusion
Heat of Formation	472.44 kJ/mol
Electrons
Electron Shells	2, 5

Valence Electrons	5

Electron Configuration	[He] 2s² 2p³

Oxidation States	-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Electronegativity	18.13 eV/particle 0.26493 3.04
Electrophilicity	1.353269450990578 eV/particle
Phases
Phase	Gas
Gas Phase	Diatomic
Boiling Point	77.355 K
Melting Point	63.15 K
Critical Pressure	3.3958 MPa
Critical Temperature	126.192 K
Triple Point	63.151 K 12.52 kPa
Visual
Color	Colorless #8f8fff #3050f8 #3753bb
Appearance	colorless gas, liquid or solid
Refractive Index	1.000298
Thermodynamic Properties
Thermal Conductivity	0.026 W/(m K)
Thermal Expansion
Molar Heat Capacity	29.124 J/(mol K)
Specific Heat Capacity	1.04 J/(g⋅K)
Heat Capacity Ratio (Adiabatic Index)	7/5
Electrical Properties
Type
Electrical Conductivity
Electrical Resistivity
Superconducting Point
Magnetism
Type	diamagnetic
Magnetic Susceptibility (Mass)	-0.0000000054 m³/Kg
Magnetic Susceptibility (Molar)	-0.00000000015 m³/mol
Magnetic Susceptibility (Volume)	-0.0000000068
Magnetic Ordering
Curie Point
Neel Point
Structure
Crystal Structure	Simple Hexagonal (HEX)
Lattice Constant	4.039 Å
Lattice Angles	π/2, π/2, 2 π/3
Mechanical Properties
Hardness
Bulk Modulus
Shear Modulus
Young Modulus
Poisson Ratio
Speed of Sound	333.6 m/s
Classification
Category	Other nonmetals, Nonmetals
CAS Group	VB
IUPAC Group	VA
Glawe Number	88
Mendeleev Number	93
Pettifor Number	100
Geochemical Class	volatile
Goldschmidt Class	atmophile
Other
Gas Basicity	318.7 kJ/mol
Dipole Polarizability	7.4 ± 0.2 a₀
C6 Dispersion Coefficient	24.2 a₀ 25.7 a₀
Allotropes	Dinitrogen
Neutron Cross Section	1.91
Neutron Mass Absorption	0.0048
Quantum Numbers	4S3/2
Space Group	194 (P63/mmc)

Isotopes of Nitrogen

Stable Isotopes	2
Unstable Isotopes	14
Radioactive Isotopes	12

¹⁰N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	10.04165354 ± 0.000429417 Da
Mass Number	10
G-Factor
Half Life	143 ± 36 ys
Spin	1
Quadrupole Moment
Discovery Year	2002
Parity	-

¹⁰N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
p (proton emission)	%

¹¹N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	11.026157593 ± 0.000005368 Da
Mass Number	11
G-Factor
Half Life	585 ± 7 ys
Spin	1/2
Quadrupole Moment	0
Discovery Year	1974
Parity	+

¹¹N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
p (proton emission)	100%

¹²N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	12.01861318 ± 0.000001073 Da
Mass Number	12
G-Factor	0.4571 ± 0.0001
Half Life	11 ± 0.016 ms
Spin	1
Quadrupole Moment	0.01 ± 0.0009
Discovery Year	1949
Parity	+

¹²N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
β⁺ (β⁺ decay; β⁺ = ϵ + e⁺)	100%
β⁺α (β⁺-delayed α emission)	1.93%

¹³N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	13.005738609 ± 0.000000289 Da
Mass Number	13
G-Factor	0.6438 ± 0.0008
Half Life	9.965 ± 0.004 m
Spin	1/2
Quadrupole Moment	0
Discovery Year	1934
Parity	-

¹³N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
β⁺ (β⁺ decay; β⁺ = ϵ + e⁺)	100%

¹⁴N

Abundance	99.6205 ± 0.0247
Relative Atomic Mass	14.00307400425 ± 0.00000000024 Da
Mass Number	14
G-Factor	0.403573 ± 0.000002
Half Life
Spin	1
Quadrupole Moment
Discovery Year	1920
Parity	+

¹⁵N

Abundance	0.3795 ± 0.0247
Relative Atomic Mass	15.00010889827 ± 0.00000000062 Da
Mass Number	15
G-Factor	-0.5661138 ± 0.0000028
Half Life
Spin	1/2
Quadrupole Moment	0
Discovery Year	1929
Parity	-

¹⁶N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	16.006101925 ± 0.00000247 Da
Mass Number	16
G-Factor	0.9928 ± 0.00055
Half Life	7.13 ± 0.02 s
Spin	2
Quadrupole Moment	-0.018 ± 0.002
Discovery Year	1933
Parity	-

¹⁶N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
β⁻ (β⁻ decay)	100%
β⁻α (β⁻-delayed α emission)	0.00154%

¹⁷N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	17.008448876 ± 0.000016103 Da
Mass Number	17
G-Factor	0.7104 ± 0.0008
Half Life	4.173 ± 0.004 s
Spin	1/2
Quadrupole Moment	0
Discovery Year	1949
Parity	-

¹⁷N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
β⁻ (β⁻ decay)	100%
β⁻ n (β⁻-delayed neutron emission)	95.1%
β⁻α (β⁻-delayed α emission)	0.0025%

¹⁸N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	18.014077563 ± 0.000019935 Da
Mass Number	18
G-Factor	0.3274 ± 0.0004
Half Life	619.2 ± 1.9 ms
Spin	1
Quadrupole Moment	0.0123 ± 0.0012
Discovery Year	1964
Parity	-

¹⁸N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
β⁻ (β⁻ decay)	100%
β⁻ n (β⁻-delayed neutron emission)	7%
β⁻α (β⁻-delayed α emission)	12.2%
2n (2-neutron emission)	%

¹⁹N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	19.017022389 ± 0.00001761 Da
Mass Number	19
G-Factor	0.61 ± 0.03
Half Life	336 ± 3 ms
Spin	1/2
Quadrupole Moment	0
Discovery Year	1968
Parity	-

¹⁹N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
β⁻ (β⁻ decay)	100%
β⁻ n (β⁻-delayed neutron emission)	41.8%

²⁰N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	20.023367295 ± 0.000084696 Da
Mass Number	20
G-Factor
Half Life	136 ± 3 ms
Spin	2
Quadrupole Moment
Discovery Year	1969
Parity	-

²⁰N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
β⁻ (β⁻ decay)	100%
β⁻ n (β⁻-delayed neutron emission)	42.9%
2n (2-neutron emission)	%

²¹N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	21.027087573 ± 0.000143906 Da
Mass Number	21
G-Factor
Half Life	85 ± 5 ms
Spin	1/2
Quadrupole Moment	0
Discovery Year	1970
Parity	-

²¹N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
β⁻ (β⁻ decay)	100%
β⁻ n (β⁻-delayed neutron emission)	87%
2n (2-neutron emission)	%

²²N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	22.034100918 ± 0.00022306 Da
Mass Number	22
G-Factor	0
Half Life	23 ± 3 ms
Spin	0
Quadrupole Moment	0
Discovery Year	1979
Parity	-

²²N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
β⁻ (β⁻ decay)	100%
β⁻ n (β⁻-delayed neutron emission)	34%
2n (2-neutron emission)	12%

²³N

Abundance	Radioactive ☢️
Relative Atomic Mass	23.039421 ± 0.0004515 Da
Mass Number	23
G-Factor
Half Life	13.9 ± 1.4 ms
Spin	1/2
Quadrupole Moment	0
Discovery Year	1985
Parity	-

²³N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
β⁻ (β⁻ decay)	100%
β⁻ n (β⁻-delayed neutron emission)	42%
2n (2-neutron emission)	8%
3n (3-neutron emission)	3.4%

²⁴N

Abundance
Relative Atomic Mass	24.05039 ± 0.00043 Da
Mass Number	24
G-Factor
Half Life
Spin
Quadrupole Moment
Discovery Year
Parity

²⁴N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
n (neutron emission)	%

²⁵N

Abundance
Relative Atomic Mass	25.0601 ± 0.00054 Da
Mass Number	25
G-Factor
Half Life
Spin	1/2
Quadrupole Moment	0
Discovery Year
Parity	-

²⁵N Decay Modes

Decay Mode	Intensity
n (neutron emission)	%
2n (2-neutron emission)	%
β⁻ (β⁻ decay)	%

History

Nitrogen is considered to have been discovered by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772, who called it noxious air or fixed air. It was also studied at about the same time by Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Henry Cavendish and Joseph Priestley. In 1790 the French chemist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal named the element nitrogen. From the Latin word nitrum, Greek Nitron, native soda; and genes, forming

Discoverers	Daniel Rutherford
Discovery Location	Scotland
Discovery Year	1772
Etymology (Name Origin)	Greek: nitron and genes, (soda forming).
Pronunciation	NYE-treh-gen (English)

Rapid release of nitrogen gas into an enclosed space can displace oxygen, and therefore represents an asphyxiation hazard

Nitrogen is present in all living organisms, in proteins, nucleic acids and other molecules

Uses

Nitrogen is used to produce ammonia and fertilizers, vital for current food production methods. Liquid nitrogen is used as a refrigerant. Nitric acid is used as an oxidizing agent in liquid fueled rockets. Nitrogen is a constituent of molecules in every major drug class in pharmacology and medicine. Primarily to produce ammonia and other fertilizers. Also used in making nitric acid, which is used in explosives. Also used in welding and enhanced oil recovery.

Sources

Obtained from liquid air by fractional distillation.

Abundance
Abundance in Earth's crust	19 mg/kg
Abundance in Oceans	0.5 mg/L
Abundance in Human Body	2.6 %
Abundance in Meteor	0.14 %
Abundance in Sun	0.1 %
Abundance in Universe	0.1 %

Nuclear Screening Constants

1	s	0.3349
2	p	3.166
2	s	3.1526

Nitrogen on ChemicalAid

ATC code	V03AN04
Art & Architecture Thesaurus ID	300266339
Australian Educational Vocabulary ID	scot/3550
BNCF Thesaurus ID	14013
Biblioteca Nacional de España ID	XX525774
Bibliothèque nationale de France ID	11975683p
Brockhaus Enzyklopädie online ID	stickstoff
CAS Registry Number	17778-88-0
ChEBI ID	25555
ChemSpider ID	20473555
Common Procurement Vocabulary	24111700
Encyclopædia Britannica Online ID	science/nitrogen
Encyclopædia Universalis ID	azote
English Vikidia ID	Nitrogen
E number	E941
EuroVoc ID	4545
Freebase ID	/m/025s4ld
French Vikidia ID	Azote
GND ID	4125639-6
Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana ID	0235236
Great Russian Encyclopedia Online ID	1804950
Italian Vikidia ID	Azoto
KBpedia ID	Nitrogen
Klexikon article ID	Stickstoff
Krugosvet article	nauka_i_tehnika/himiya/AZOT.html
Latvian National Encyclopedia Online ID	118915
Library of Congress authority ID	sh85092062
MeSH descriptor ID	D009584
NALT ID	53079
NDF-RT ID	N0000147408
NE.se ID	kväve
NKCR AUT ID	ph119645
Namuwiki ID	질소
National Diet Library ID	00573098
National Library of Israel J9U ID	987007531393105171
OmegaWiki Defined Meaning	2514
Online PWN Encyclopedia ID	3872890
OpenAlex ID	C2991782629
OpenAlex ID	C537208039
OpenAlex ID	C2992556255
OpenAlex ID	C2993420144
Open Food Facts food additive ID	e941-nitrogen
PSH ID	5801
Quora topic ID	Nitrogen
RxNorm ID	7456
Römpp online ID	RD-19-04099
Store medisinske leksikon ID	nitrogen
Store norske leksikon ID	nitrogen
Treccani ID	azoto
UK Archival Thesaurus ID	f2/mt225/4347/4039
UK Parliament thesaurus ID	11951
UNESCO Thesaurus ID	concept3491
WikiSkripta ID	57193
WordNet 3.1 Synset ID	14671413-n
YSO ID	10988

Nitrogen (N)

Properties

Isotopes of Nitrogen

10N

10N Decay Modes

11N

11N Decay Modes

12N

12N Decay Modes

13N

13N Decay Modes

14N

15N

16N

16N Decay Modes

17N

17N Decay Modes

18N

18N Decay Modes

19N

19N Decay Modes

20N

20N Decay Modes

21N

21N Decay Modes

22N

22N Decay Modes

23N

23N Decay Modes

24N

24N Decay Modes

25N

25N Decay Modes