Chemical element · Atomic number 7
Nitrogen
Nitrogen in the periodic table: atomic number 7, electron configuration, atomic mass, physical data, oxidation states, media credit and visible sources.
Nonmetal
gaseous
14.007 u
Documented element sampleNitrogen turns liquid only below about minus 196 degrees Celsius; at room temperature it is a colorless gas.
Image credit: Robin Müller
Auto-oriented, limited to 1600 × 1200 pixels and re-encoded as WebP; the subject was not altered.
Atomic classification
Shell occupancy
Nitrogen in the Bohr shell model
This shows the electron distribution of the neutral atom in a simplified shell model.
- K · n=1
- 2 electrons
- L · n=2
- 5 electrons
- Electron configuration
- [He] 2s2 2p3
- Electrons per shell
- 2 · 5
- Group
- 15
- Period
- 2
- Block
- P
- Element category
- Nonmetal
Physical and chemical properties
- Atomic mass
- 14.007 u
- Standard state
- gaseous
- Density
- 0.0012506 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 63.15 K
- Boiling point
- 77.36 K
- Electronegativity
- 3.04 (Pauling)
- First ionisation energy
- 14.534 eV
- Oxidation states
- +5, +4, +3, +2, +1, -1, -2, -3
- Discovery
- 1772
Safety and periodic classification
Safety
Safe handling cannot be inferred from Nitrogen's position in the periodic table alone. Laboratory, classroom and disposal decisions must follow the documentation for the exact material and its safety data sheet.
Position and comparison
Nitrogen is in period 2, group 15 and the P block. Its direct neighbours by atomic number are Carbon and Oxygen. The recorded Pauling electronegativity is 3.04. Periodic trends are compared only through the separately sourced neighbouring values.
Sources and scope
PubChem attributes element data to sources including IUPAC, NIST and IAEA. Quanta stores the referenced snapshot locally and leaves unknown values unavailable.
Where Nitrogen sits among the 118 elements
The table compares the reported values for Nitrogen with every other element that carries the same value in the snapshot. A rank is not a judgement, it is orientation: it says how unusual this value is across the periodic table.
| Value | Nitrogen | Position in the data set |
|---|---|---|
| Melting point | 63.15 K | Rank 98 of 103 elements with a reported value. Highest: Carbon. |
| Boiling point | 77.36 K | Rank 90 of 93 elements with a reported value. Highest: Rhenium. |
| Density | 0.001 g/cm³ | Rank 93 of 96 elements with a reported value. Highest: Osmium. |
| Electronegativity (Pauling) | 3.04 | Rank 4 of 95 elements with a reported value. Highest: Fluorine. |
| Ionisation energy | 14.534 eV | Rank 5 of 102 elements with a reported value. Highest: Helium. |
All values and ranks come from the PubChem Periodic Table snapshot, retrieved on 2026-07-15. Elements without a reported value are excluded, so the population differs per row.
The neighbours of Nitrogen in the periodic table
- Place in the table
- Group 15, period 2, P block. Classified as nonmetal, gaseous at standard conditions.
- Direct neighbours
- Atomic number 7. Preceded by Carbon, followed by Oxygen.
- Same group
- Same number of outer electrons, and therefore similar reactivity to Phosphorus, Arsenic, Antimony, Bismuth, Moscovium.
- Discovery
- Recorded in the snapshot as: 1772. Who, where and under what circumstances is not part of that record, so this page carries the sourced year and no discovery narrative.
- Oxidation states
- +5, +4, +3, +2, +1, -1, -2, -3. They follow from the electron configuration [He] 2s2 2p3 and indicate which compounds to expect.
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