When paired with itself, nitrogen has three bonding pairs and one lone pair, so to covalently bond, it forms a triple bond.
Carbon has no lone pairs and 4 bonding pairs if it were to be covalently bonded to itself. So why does it not form quadruple bonds?
In: Chemistry
*This is a simplified explanation without getting into quantum stuff.*
Electrons are particles with the same negative charge, so they repel each other.
They are attracted to positively-charged atomic nuclei. If two atoms are nearby electrons try to position themselves inbetween, attracted to both nuclei at once and forming a bond.
Up to a triple bond the attraction of electrons to nuclei outweighs the electrons’ repelling forces. If you try adding more, the repelling force gets too strong and “extras” are thrown out.
Bigger atoms with d-orbitals may form quadruple bonds because their outer, bonding electrons are further away from each other.
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