Question

How many valence electrons does nitrogen have?

Answer 1

Hint To find the number of valence electrons in nitrogen atom , you should first know that how many electrons are present in nitrogen and then, calculate the total number of electrons present in the s, p and d-orbitals to get the valence electrons. Now you can easily answer the statement.

Complete answer:
Nitrogen is a non-metal and a gas which belongs to the p-block elements of the periodic table.
It lies in the 15th group and 2nd period of the periodic table.
It has an atomic number as 7 and the mass number as 14. It has the electronic configuration as: $1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^3$.
Now considering the statement as;
The number of electrons present in an atom is always equal to the atomic number of that very element.
And The electrons which are present in the outermost valence shell of an atom are called the valence electrons.
From the electronic configuration of the nitrogen atom, we come to know that the number of electrons present in the outermost shell i.e., 2rd shell is 5 electrons.

Thus, the total number of valence electrons present in nitrogen atoms is five.

Note: Nitrogen being a non-metal has five electrons in its outermost shell and requires only three electrons to complete its octet and acquire stable electronic configuration of the nearest noble gas So, nitrogen has a strong tendency to gain three electrons from the other electron donating species and thus, it acts as a strong Lewis acid.