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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.
If an atom has more electrons than protons, then it has an overall negative charge, and is called a negative ion (or anion). Conversely, if it has more protons than electrons, it has a positive charge, and is called a positive ion (or cation). The electrons of an atom are attracted to the protons in an atomic nucleus by the electromagnetic force.
For example, a neutral chlorine atom has 17 protons and 17 electrons, whereas a Cl − anion has 17 protons and 18 electrons for a total charge of −1. All atoms of a given element are not necessarily identical, however. The number of neutrons may vary to form different isotopes, and energy levels may differ, resulting in different nuclear ...
For an ordinary atom which contains protons, neutrons and electrons, the sum of the atomic number Z and the neutron number N gives the atom's atomic mass number A. Since protons and neutrons have approximately the same mass (and the mass of the electrons is negligible for many purposes) and the mass defect of the nucleon binding is always small ...
However, if the nitrogen-14 (14 N) nucleus was composed of 14 protons and 7 electrons, an odd number of spin-1/2 particles, then the resultant nuclear spin should be half-integer. Kronig therefore suggested that perhaps "protons and electrons do not retain their identity to the extent they do outside the nucleus". [1]: 299–301 [45]: 117
Nitrogen-14 is one of the very few stable nuclides with both an odd number of protons and of neutrons (seven each) and is the only one to make up a majority of its element. Each proton or neutron contributes a nuclear spin of plus or minus spin 1/2 , giving the nucleus a total magnetic spin of one.
Examples include carbon-14, nitrogen-15, and oxygen-16 in the table above. Isobars are nuclides with the same number of nucleons (i.e. mass number) but different numbers of protons and neutrons. Isobars neighbor each other diagonally from lower-left to upper-right. Examples include carbon-14, nitrogen-14, and oxygen-14 in the table above.
The charge number equals the electric charge (q, in coulombs) divided by the elementary charge: z = q/e. Atomic numbers (Z) are a special case of charge numbers, referring to the charge number of an atomic nucleus, as opposed to the net charge of an atom or ion. The charge numbers for ions (and also subatomic particles) are written in ...