Element of the week: Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a gas at room temperature and is the most abundant element in Earth’s atmosphere

by GrrlScientist for The Guardian| @GrrlScientist

Titan and its nitrogen-rich atmosphere. (Credit: NASA / JPL)

Nitrogen is the seventh most abundant element in the universe and is a major constituent of the atmosphere on Titan, the largest of Saturn’s 62 moons. (Anomalies in the composition of Titan’s atmosphere have led some to suggest that Titan might even harbour life forms).

Nitrogen gas glows purple when exposed to electrical radiation. (CC-BY-SA 3.0).

But here on Earth, nitrogen is a fairly inert gas at room temperature and is the most abundant element in Earth’s atmosphere (78%). Nitrogen glows a lovely violet colour when exposed to electrical radiation, a characteristic that makes nitrogen lasers easily identifiable from their purple glow. The chemical bond between two atoms of nitrogen is the strongest bond known between two atoms of the same element. This makes N2 a very stable and inert gas. Ammonia, NH3 (which is toxic), is the most important base material for the nitrogen chemistry and is one of the most produced chemicals in the world. From this, for example fertilisers and explosives are made.

Like carbon (featured last week), nitrogen is another element that is an indispensable component of all living things, since it is part of amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

Visit Periodic Videos’s YouTube channel.

I couldn’t find a cartoon about nitrogen to entertain you kids at the back of the classroom, who are too cool to admit that learning is fun, but this video is still fun:

Visit Jefferson Lab’s YouTube channel.

Visit next week’s Element of the week: Oxygen!

Or, to review, we’ve learned a little about these elements:

Carbon: C, atomic number 6
Boron: B, atomic number 5
Beryllium: Be atomic number 4
Lithium: Li atomic number 3
Helium: He atomic number 2
Hydrogen: H atomic number 1

Originally published at The Guardian on 25 March 2011.