What is a particle inside an atom that carries a positive electrical charge?

1 Answer
anor277
Dec 31, 2016

#"A proton..............."#

Explanation:

Note that the assignment of charge is entirely arbitrary, and a bit unfortunate for #"quantum chemists"# (but not so for #"nucular physicists,"# who don't have to be so careful in multi-proton as compared to multi-electron calculations.) The point is that charged, massive nuclear particles, #"protons"#, have an equal but opposite electronic charge to charged, extranuclear particles of negligible mass, #"electrons"#.

See [here for a practical example of assignment of charge on an ion.](https://socratic.org/questions/what-is-the-charge-on-a-carbonate-ion-co-3-2-compared-to-the-number-of-protons-h)

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