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Old July 3rd, 2006, 13:16
base788 base788 is offline
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The nitrogen in NH3 has an oxidation state of -3 not +3. Since the nitrogen is the more electronegative atom it has 8 valence electrons; by itself, it has only 5 so 5-8=-3. The hydrogens have zero valence electrons in this compound while hydrogen itself has one so 1-0=+1.