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- Name : Nitrogen
- Symbol : N
- Atomic # : 7
- Atom weight: 14.0067
- Melting P. : -209.86
- Boiling P. : -195.8
- Oxidation : +1, -1, +2, -2, +3, -3, +4, +5
- Pronounced : NYE-treh-gen
- From : Greek nitron + genes, "soda forming"
- Identified : Daniel Rutherford in 1772
- Appearance : Colorless, odorless, tasteless, and generally inert gas
- Note : Every breathe you take is 80% nitrogen
-
- [Properties]
-
- Nitrogen heads the Group-VA elements. In its gaseous form, nitrogen
- is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. As a liquid, it is also
- colorless and odorless, resembling ordinary water in appearance,
- density, and viscosity.
- Nitrogen is a fairly inert gas, although it does form a few extremely
- important compounds which, oddly enough, tend to be very active. This
- can be explained by the fact that nitrogen gas is comprised of two
- nitrogen molecules that have a very strong binding energy. Of the
- common gasses, only the molecules of carbon dioxide are more difficult
- to separate than two atoms of nitrogen. But once the gas molecules are
- pulled apart, the individual atoms become very reactive.
-