How many valence electrons does a neutral nitrogen atom have?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Nitrogen has an atomic number of 7, meaning it has 7 electrons. In a neutral atom, the number of electrons equals the number of protons in the nucleus, so nitrogen also has 7 protons. In order to determine the number of valence electrons, we look at the electron configuration of nitrogen, which is 1s2 2s2 2p3. The outermost shell, or valence shell, is the 2p subshell, which contains 5 electrons. Therefore, nitrogen has 5 valence electrons.

How Many Valence Electrons Does a Neutral Nitrogen Atom Have