Understanding Subatomic Particle Charges

The Charge of Sub-Atomic Particles

Your atoms are basically tiny electrical balancing acts! Every atom contains three different sub-atomic particles - protons, neutrons, and electrons - and each one has its own electrical charge that keeps everything stable.

Protons are the positively charged particles $+1$ that live in the atom's nucleus (the centre). They're super important because the number of protons an element has determines what element it actually is - this is called the atomic number. So every carbon atom has exactly 6 protons, and every oxygen atom has exactly 8 protons.

Electrons are the negatively charged particles $-1$ that zoom around the nucleus in fixed orbits, like planets around the sun. Here's the clever bit: atoms always have exactly the same number of electrons as protons, so the positive and negative charges cancel each other out perfectly.

Neutrons are the neutral particles (0 charge) that also hang out in the nucleus with the protons. They don't affect the electrical charge at all, but they do help hold the nucleus together and affect the atom's mass.

Quick Check: Remember that atoms are electrically neutral because the number of positive protons always equals the number of negative electrons!