3
Nitrogen is a unique element. It can loose one, two, three, four, or even five electrons. It can also gain one, two, or three electrons. These are not the only possibilities, however they are the most common.
Nitrogen has to gain three electrons
Nitrogen has 5 electron in it's outer shell, so it would need to gain 3 electrons to have a full valence shell
nitrogen has 5 valence electrons. It should gain 3 electrons to achieve a noble gas configuration.
5 valence electrons because it needs to gain 3 electrons in order to become stable
One
Nitrogen can gain 3 electrons to achieve a full outer shell with 8 electrons, or lose 5 electrons to achieve a stable electron configuration similar to the noble gas neon.
Nitrogen can gain three electrons to form an ion with a charge of -3. This would give nitrogen a stable octet of electrons in its outer shell, following the octet rule.
Nitrogen must gain three electrons.
Nitrogen has five valence electrons as a neutral atom, but it is shooting for eight. So it needs to gain three more electrons.
A nitrogen atom needs to gain three electrons to achieve a stable electron configuration similar to a noble gas. This would result in the nitrogen atom having a full outer electron shell, like that of a noble gas.
Nitrogen needs to gain 3 electrons to achieve noble gas electron configuration, similar to the nearest noble gas, which is neon. By gaining 3 electrons, nitrogen would have a full outer shell of 8 electrons, making it more stable.