N₂ is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas. It is a non-toxic gas. It’s vapor density is 14. It has very low solubility in water.

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF NITROGEN

(1) N₂ is neutral towards litmus. It is chemically unreactive at ordinary temp. It is neither combustible nor it supports combustion.

(2) The N – N bond in N₂ molecule is a triple bond ( N ≡ N ) with a bond distance of 109.8 pm and bond dissociation energy of 946 kJ mol^-1

(3) Combination with compounds : N₂ combines with certain compounds on strong heating . eg

Both these compounds are hydrolysed on boiling with water to give ammonia.

CaCN₂ + 3H₂O ———→ CaCO₃ + 2NH₃

AIN + 3H₂O ———→ AI ( OH )₃ + NH₃

Therefore, calcium cyanamide is used as a fertilizer under the name nitrolim ( CaCN₂ + C )

USES OF NITROGEN :

N₂ is mainly used in the manufacture of compounds like NH₃, HNO₃, CaCN₂ etc.