Calcium Nitride Ca3N2 is an inorganic compound with constituent elements calcium and nitrogen. It has various isomorphous forms, out of which a-calcium nitride is more commonly encountered. It has a strong chemical activity and can be used for obtaining reactive nitride ions, such as the niobium tricarbonate and hafnium trichloride.

In IUPAC nomenclature, calcium nitride is called calcium azanidylidenecalcium and represented by the formula Ca3N2. It has different properties and can be obtained by reacting elemental calcium in a pure nitrogen stream or heating distilled fibrous metallic calcium purified by distillation to 450 degrees Celsius for 34h in pure N2 gas flow.

The oxidation number of Ca in Ca3N2 is (c)+2 because atoms of calcium in a +2 state combine with atoms of nitrogen in a -3 state to give a net zero charge, as the +6 charges of the calcium atoms cancel out the -6 charges of the nitrogen atoms. It is a soft, reactive metal that is often alloyed with aluminum and beryllium and serves as an important part of industrial and biological materials such as cement, mortar, bones, teeth and shells.

When writing a name for an ionic compound, it is essential to follow two rules. One is that the nonmetal must be listed first, and the second is that the oxidation state of the metal must be indicated by a parenthesized Roman numeral.

tags: semiconductor semiconductor material