Chapter EH, Problem 40R

Solution

Interpretation : The nitrogen does not react with other elements under normal temperature conditions to be inferred.

Concept Introduction : Among the group 15 elements, nitrogen is a non-metal. A colorless and odorless gas is nitrogen.

Nitrogen does not react with other elements under normal temperature conditions because of its half-filled configuration and the strong bond formed in between $N_2$ gas which is difficult to break.

The seventh element on the Periodic Table is nitrogen. It has a stable, half-filled p orbital and an electron configuration of $1s^{2}2s^{2}2p^3$ .

Nitrogen primarily occurs in nature as nitrogen gas, or $N_2$ . In this instance, a lone pair is present on each of the two N atoms, which are joined by a triple covalent bond formed by sharing three valence p electrons.

Since the nitrogen atom is quite little, the bond's length is also quite short (109.8 pm).

At normal temperatures, the bond dissociation has relatively high energy (946 kJ/mol).

So, it is difficult to break the bond between $N_2$ due to which the nitrogen does not react at normal temperatures.