nitrogen, Gaseous chemical element, chemical symbol N, atomic number 7. A colourless, odourless, tasteless gas, it makes up 78% of Earth’s atmosphere and is a constituent of all living matter. As the nearly unreactive diatomic molecule N2, it is useful as an inert atmosphere or to dilute other gases. Nitrogen is commercially produced by distillation of liquefied air. Nitrogen fixation, achieved naturally by soil microbes and industrially by the Haber-Bosch process, converts it to water-soluble compounds (including ammonia and nitrates). Industrially, ammonia is the starting material for most other nitrogen compounds (especially nitrates and nitrites), whose main uses are in agricultural fertilizers and explosives. In compounds, nitrogen usually has valence 3 or 5. It forms several oxides including nitrous oxide (N2O; laughing gas), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and other forms (such as N2O3 and N2O5). Some of the nitrogen oxides, often referred to generically as NOx, are notorious as contributors to urban air pollution. Other compounds include the nitrides, exceptionally hard materials made from nitrogen and a metal; cyanides; azides, used in detonators and percussion caps; and thousands of organic compounds containing nitrogen in functional groups or in a linear or ring structure (see heterocyclic compound). See also nitrogen cycle.
FAQs
What is nitrogen short summary? ›
nitrogen, Gaseous chemical element, chemical symbol N, atomic number 7. A colourless, odourless, tasteless gas, it makes up 78% of Earth's atmosphere and is a constituent of all living matter. As the nearly unreactive diatomic molecule N2, it is useful as an inert atmosphere or to dilute other gases.
What is the basic summary of the nitrogen cycle? ›What Exactly Is the Nitrogen Cycle? The nitrogen cycle is a repeating cycle of processes during which nitrogen moves through both living and non-living things: the atmosphere, soil, water, plants, animals and bacteria. In order to move through the different parts of the cycle, nitrogen must change forms.
How do you explain nitrogen? ›Nitrogen is a naturally occurring element that is essential for growth and reproduction in both plants and animals. It is found in amino acids that make up proteins, in nucleic acids, that comprise the hereditary material and life's blueprint for all cells, and in many other organic and inorganic compounds.
What is the summary of the nitrogen cycle quizlet? ›A cycle of matter in which nitrogen atoms move from nitrogen gas in the atmosphere to inorganic forms in the soil, to organic forms in living things, and then back to inorganic forms in the soil and nitrogen gas in the atmosphere.
What is nitrogen answers? ›nitrogen (N), nonmetallic element of Group 15 [Va] of the periodic table. It is a colourless, odourless, tasteless gas that is the most plentiful element in Earth's atmosphere and is a constituent of all living matter. nitrogen.
Why do we need nitrogen? ›Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for the production of amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids, etc., and stone fruit trees require an adequate annual supply for proper growth and productivity. Nitrogen is primarily absorbed through fine roots as either ammonium or nitrate.
What is nitrogen used for? ›Nitrogen is important for plant growth and can be 'fixed' by lightning or added to soils in fertilisers. A colourless, odourless gas. Nitrogen is important to the chemical industry. It is used to make fertilisers, nitric acid, nylon, dyes and explosives.
Where is nitrogen found? ›The major source of nitrogen is the atmosphere. It exists as a colorless, odorless, nontoxic gas and makes up about 78 percent of the atmosphere. Nitrogen is also found in the Earth's crust as part of organic matter and humus.
What is nitrogen short for? ›Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at seventh in total abundance in the Milky Way and the Solar System.
What is nitrogen simple? ›ni·tro·gen ˈnī-trə-jən. : a colorless tasteless odorless element that occurs as a gas which makes up 78 percent of the atmosphere and that forms a part of all living tissues see element. nitrogenous.
What is nitrogen in one sentence? ›
The seventh element of the periodic table between carbon and oxygen is nitrogen. It's an important part of amino acids. Around eighty per cent of the Earth's atmosphere comprises nitrogen gas.
What is the basic explanation of the nitrogen cycle? ›Nitrogen Cycle is a biogeochemical process through which nitrogen is converted into many forms, consecutively passing from the atmosphere to the soil to organism and back into the atmosphere.
How do humans get nitrogen? ›Human can't utilise nitrogen through respiration, but can absorb through the consumption of plants or animals that have consumed nitrogen rich vegetation. The air we breathe is around 78% nitrogen, so it is obvious that it enters our body with every breath.
What is nitrogen cycle one word answer? ›Nitrogen cycle is a biogeochemical process by which atmospheric nitrogen is converted into chemical forms to make it available for living organisms and is returned back into the atmosphere.
What is nitrogen explained for kids? ›The chemical element nitrogen is a gas that makes up much of the air in Earth's atmosphere. It is also one of the principal chemical elements that are a part of all living things. Scientists use symbols to stand for the chemical elements. The symbol for nitrogen is N.
What is the nitrogen family summary? ›The nitrogen family includes the following compounds: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), and bismuth (Bi). All Group 15 elements have the electron configuration ns2np3 in their outer shell, where n is the principal quantum number.