Question

The atomic number of nitrogen is 7. The number of electrons a neutral nitrogen atom has is

Answer 1

A neutral nitrogen atom has 7 electrons since its atomic number is 7. These electrons are distributed over two shells, and nitrogen has 5 valence electrons in its outermost shell.

Step-by-step explanation:

The atomic number of an element represents the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom and, in a neutral atom, also equals the number of electrons. For nitrogen, which has an atomic number of 7, this means a neutral nitrogen atom has exactly 7 electrons. The electron configuration for a neutral nitrogen atom is expressed as [He]2s22p3.

These electrons are arranged in two electron shells, with the first shell containing 2 electrons and the second shell containing the remaining 5. Of these 5 electrons in the second shell, there are five valence electrons.

Answer 2

for a neutral atom number of electrons and protons are equal. atomic number is number of protons. so then the number of electrons should be 7 too.