Nitrogen (N)
"The Cool Head, a hero who makes up most of the air, but can become super-cold and powerful as a liquid."
A memorable persona to anchor N in your mind.
1.251
Grams per cm³
-210
Celsius (°C)
155
Radius (pm)
Daily Life Link
The fertilizer that helps grow the food we eat.
Discovery & History
Year Discovered
1772
Discovered By
Daniel Rutherford
Origin of Name
"The name is derived from the Greek 'nitron' and 'genes' meaning nitre forming."
Technical Properties
Atomic Mass
14.007 u
Standard State
gas
Boiling Point
-195.795°C
Electron Configuration
[He] 2s22p3
1st Ionization Energy
14.534 eV
Electron Affinity
N/A
Oxidation States
"A colorless, odorless, tasteless diatomic gas."
Did You Know?
Nitrogen gas makes up 78% of the air we breathe, but most living organisms cannot use it directly from the atmosphere.
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is the only moon in our solar system with a dense, nitrogen-rich atmosphere, even thicker than Earth's.
The condition known as "the bends" (decompression sickness) in scuba divers is caused by nitrogen bubbles forming in the bloodstream.
Liquid nitrogen is so cold (-196°C or -321°F) that it can instantly freeze living tissue on contact.