Nitrogen Family

Introduction:
In periodic table elements are arranged in the ascending order of their atomic number.  They are arranged in such a way that elements with same electronic configuration fall under the same group.  As electronic configuration decides chemical property of an element, elements with in a group will have same chemical property.  Each group is called as a family with the name of the first element in that group.  Hence elements in the group under Boron are said to belong Boron family.  Similarly elements under the nitrogen are called as nitrogen family.

Position of Nitrogen Family in Periodic Table
In periodic table nitrogen family can be found in p Block elements.  Elements in which the valence electrons can be found in  p orbitals are called as p block elements.  They have general electronic configuration ns² np^1-6 . These elements occupy right corner of periodic table
  
Nitrogen family comes next to carbon in periodic table and this family consists of Nitrogen, phosphorus, Arsenic, Antimony and Bismuth

General Properties of Nitrogen Family:

This family elements have the general electronic configuration ns²,np³ . As the valence shell contains five electrons these elements have a maximum valency of five.
But as we move down the group of nitrogen family, the electrons in the S orbital will not take part in valency due to inert pair effect.  Thus elements in the bottom of the group will have a maximum valency of three.
As we down the group the atomic size increases and hence the metallic nature increases.  So Bismuth is metal while nitrogen is non metal
As the metallic nature increases the basic nature of the oxides increases.  So the Bismuth oxide is basic while nitrogen oxides are acidic

Inert Nature of Nitrogen:

In nitrogen family all other elements except nitrogen are highly reactive.  But nitrogen is chemically inert.  This is due to strong triple bond formed in molecular nitrogen.  But nitrogen is an important element in proteins and is required by animation for continuous survival.  Hence the nitrogen in atmosphere is fixed by nitrogen fixation to earth