In: Biology
The element nitrogen is found in the second row of the periodic table and has an atomic number of 7. how many electrons must nitrogen gain in order for its valence shell to be full? The answer is 3 but what's the concept behind this?
Solution:
In an atom there are various outermost shells named as k,L,M and N
shells and one nucleus in the centre.K shell can hold 2 electrons
and L shell can hold upto 8 electrons.This is known as octet
rule.
As we know atomic number of nitrogen is 7.There is two electrons in k shell and other five electron in L shell.Upto 8 electron in L shell make it stable.So,in case of nitrogen there is need of additional three electrons to become stable.It is difficult for an atom to lose 5 electron rather than to gain 3.So it gains three electrons to follow octet rule.