+22 votes
in Quarks by
edited by

Your answer

Your name to display (optional):
Privacy: Your email address will only be used for sending these notifications.
+8 votes
by

The charges of quarks and electrons are indeed different. Quarks have fractional electric charges, while electrons have a single unit of negative electric charge. The charge of an electron is -1 elementary charge (e), while the charge of an up quark is +2/3 e and the charge of a down quark is -1/3 e.

In a proton, which is composed of two up quarks and one down quark, the charges of the constituent quarks add up to give a net charge of +1 elementary charge. The two up quarks contribute a total charge of +4/3 e, and the down quark contributes a charge of -1/3 e, resulting in a net charge of +1 e for the proton.

On the other hand, neutrons, which consist of one up quark and two down quarks, have a net charge of zero. The up quark has a charge of +2/3 e, and the two down quarks have charges of -1/3 e each. The charges of the three quarks cancel each other out, resulting in a neutral overall charge for the neutron.

The reason for the neutron having a neutral charge even though it is composed of charged quarks lies in the dynamics of the strong nuclear force, which binds the quarks together within the nucleons (protons and neutrons). The strong force is charge-independent, meaning it does not depend on the electric charge of the quarks. It is able to balance out the charges of the quarks in such a way that the overall charge of the composite particle is neutral.

Welcome to Physicsgurus Q&A, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of the community.
...