Group 15 Elements

Group 15 of the periodic table is headed by nitrogen and continues through phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and the synthetic element moscovium. Moving down the group, the character of the elements gradually changes from non-metallic to metallic, passing through an intermediate metalloidic stage on the way. Nitrogen and phosphorus are non-metals, arsenic and antimony behave as metalloids, and bismuth (along with moscovium) is essentially metallic.

The table below summarises the key atomic and physical data for these elements (moscovium is left out, since almost nothing about its chemistry has been established).

The footnote letters attached to some entries record the exact conditions behind the number: (a) is the covalent radius for a single $E$–$E$ bond; (b) and (c) are, respectively, the radii of the $E^{3-}$ and $E^{3+}$ ions; (d) refers to white phosphorus; (e) to the grey alpha-form measured at 38.6 atm; (f) is a sublimation temperature rather than a true boiling point; (g) is measured at 63 K; (h) is the grey alpha-form; and (*) marks values that belong to the diatomic molecule $N_2$ rather than to a single atom.