[Eli5] What is electrical charge? Like, how do we know that electrons have a negative charge and what does that actually mean?
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Electrical charge is a description of how particles interact with each other electrically. The assignment of a negative charge to electrons is a human construct, and means noting in an absolute sense. They could just have easily been assigned positive charge, and nothing would change. Just like temperature exists independent of our measurement conventions, electrical charges exist independent of our naming conventions.
These charges can be thought of as an innate property of the particles, wherein like-charged particles repel each other, and oppositely-charged particles attract. This is similar to magnetic fields, which attract or repel based on their polarity. In addition to the charges that we call positive and negative, there are also particles that remain neutral, and do not interact with electrical fields. For example: wood doesn’t carry or react to electricity (even if the water inside it can), just like wood does not attract or repel magnets.
Hope this helps.
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