What is Nitrogen atom?

   

 Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7.  It was first discovered and isolated by Scottish physician Daniel Rutherford in 1772.  Although Carl wilhelm Scheele and Henry Cavendish had independently done so at about the same time, Rutherford is generally accorded the credit because his work was published first.  

     The name Nitrogene was suggested by French chemist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal in 1790 when it was found that nitrogen was present in nirtic acid and nitrates.  Antoine Lavoisier suggested instead the name azote, from the Greek " no life", as it is an asphtxiant gas;  this name is instead used in many languages, such as French, italian, Russian, Romanian and Turkish,and appears in the English names of some nitrogen compounds such as hydrazine, azides and azo compounds.

     Nitrogen is the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens.  It is  a common element in the universe, estimated at about seventh in total abundance in the Milky way and the solar system.  Dinitrogen forms about 78% of Earth's atmosphere, making it the most abundant uncombined element.  The human body contains about 3% nitrogen by mass, the fourth most abundant element in the body after oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen.  The nitrogen cycle describes movement of the element form the air, into the biosphere and organic compounds, then back into the atomsphere.

     Many industrially important compounds, such as ammonia, nitric acid, organic nitrates and cyanides, contain nitrogen.  The extremely strong triple bond in elemental nitrogen  the second strongest bond in any diatomic molecule after carbon monoxide  domicates nitrogen chemistry.