How many protons & elctrons are in a N3- anion?

Question

I came up with 7 protons and 4 electrons. But I'm not too sure on this one. Any information would be a great help. Thank you.

Answer 1

N3-, or azide has a weird structure: -N=N+=N-... two negative and one positive charge makes a net total of a negative one charge.

Now, let's count the number of protons. Nitrogen has an atomic number of 7 meaning each N has 7 protons in its nucleus. You've got three Ns, so 7 x 3 = 21 protons!
Now, you know that the charge is -1. 21 protons alone will give it a charge of +21, so there must be 22 electrons (21-22 = -1).

Azide is my favourite anion. Plus it has pretty cool reactivities too! Metal salts of azides tend to be VERY explosive. The airbags in cars have sodium azide (NaN3) in it, so when it receives a certain magnitude of shock it will explode, and decompose into N2 gas. But not only is it explosive, it is quite toxic if ingested. The N3- anion is a strong inhibitor of cytochrome c, an enzyme integral to respiration!

I hope you're just figuring this out an exercise and that you don't actually have to handle it!

Answer 2

protons are the same, otherwise, you would be talking about another element; protons (atomic number) are the "ID" of elements. So, you have 7 protons. In a neutral N atom you have the same number of electrons (7), but, because it is an anion (it catches electrons) and the net charge is 3-, you have 7e- + 3e- = 10e-
+7 (protons) - 10 (electrons) = -3
Remember, anions get electrons and cations lose them, like with most metal atoms!!

Answer 3

7 protons and 10 electrons to get to the -3 charge