why does a single molecule of argon gas only contains 1 argon atom while other gases such as nitrogen contain 2 of their respective atoms?
In: Chemistry
Argon and other atoms in the rightmost column of the periodic table are “noble” gasses. They are called this because they do not react with other atoms the vast majority of the time. So they stay as a singular atom.
To break it down further one way we model atoms is with electron “shells” essentially these are areas around the core nucleus of the atom that hold electrons. Each shell can only hold so many electrons before a new shell starts to be filled. An atom is most stable when its outer shell is filled. So nitrogen has an outer shell containing 5 electrons which is 3 short of a full outer shell. So another nitrogen molecule comes along missing 3 electrons, they grab on to 3 from each other forming a strong bond and now both atoms are stable. Oxygen does something similar with 2 missing electrons.
Now this is just a model, it describes behavior but not what is actually happening physically. What is actually happening is beyond my knowledge to describe.
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