Respuesta :
Answer:
3
Explanation:
In a nitrogen atom, since the no, of electrons is equal to its no. of protons, it has 7 electrons.
The electron configuration is 2, 5. (the first shell can only hold 2 electrons)
In each covalent bond, 2 electrons are shared between 2 atoms. usually, both atom contribute one electron. (unless it's dative covalent bond, which is not important at this point).
To obey octet rule, the outermost electron shell must have 8 electrons. Which means, the nitrogen atom need 3 more electrons to achieve that.
So with 3 covalent bonds, the nitrogen can get share 3 of its electrons, and obtain 3 more from the other atom(s). It won't lose electrons because covalent bonds exist between shared electrons, unlike ionic bonds.
