What is the covalence of nitrogen in N_2O_5.
N_2O_5 has the structure
In this structure, N atom has four shared pair of electrons, two with an oxygen atom to form N = O bond, one with oxygen atom to form N–O bond and one with another oxygen atom to form N → O bond. Thus, the covalency of N in N_2O_5 is four. It may be noted that for a coordinate bond, the covalency is also one.