Like where does the charge comes from?
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These kinds of questions are interesting, because we’ve gone so deep into the natural sciences that we’ve looped back around into philosophy. Why are electrons negative? Because it is. Why is the speed of light 3×10^8 m/s? Because it is! You can either accept this as God, or random chance, or even the anthropic principle, which states that these specific properties are necessary for the creation of life, and thus are the only set of properties capable of being observed. Physics and chemistry actually made me religious, of all things.
These kinds of questions are interesting, because we’ve gone so deep into the natural sciences that we’ve looped back around into philosophy. Why are electrons negative? Because it is. Why is the speed of light 3×10^8 m/s? Because it is! You can either accept this as God, or random chance, or even the anthropic principle, which states that these specific properties are necessary for the creation of life, and thus are the only set of properties capable of being observed. Physics and chemistry actually made me religious, of all things.
I understand that they just are is not a very satisfactory answer, but it might help you to understand that the fact that they are electrically negative doesn’t really have a specific answer, but it does explain why they are part of an atom. There are electrically negative and electrically positive subatomic particles out there in the universe. The reason electrons are part of an atom is because protons are positive. And there is a reason for that having to do with the quark makeup of the protons.
So a proton has a net positive charge because of its subatomic makeup, and that is the reason that electrons are bound to the atom. Which doesn’t tell you why electrons are negative, but it does tell you what they’re doing there.
I understand that they just are is not a very satisfactory answer, but it might help you to understand that the fact that they are electrically negative doesn’t really have a specific answer, but it does explain why they are part of an atom. There are electrically negative and electrically positive subatomic particles out there in the universe. The reason electrons are part of an atom is because protons are positive. And there is a reason for that having to do with the quark makeup of the protons.
So a proton has a net positive charge because of its subatomic makeup, and that is the reason that electrons are bound to the atom. Which doesn’t tell you why electrons are negative, but it does tell you what they’re doing there.
In particle physics this idea is referred to as “gauge symmetry” and basically it’s a mathematical principle so it’s verbose to break into words/concepts but essentially certain parts of the universe are intrinsic, and our naming of these things does not have any effect on what they do. So for example if you took all protons and suddenly they were negative and all electrons were suddenly positive the actual balance of the universe would remain the same. It basically ensures that across the entire universe these concepts remain the same regardless of naming conventions. I’m neither a physicist nor mathematician so hopefully I didn’t butcher that hahah
In particle physics this idea is referred to as “gauge symmetry” and basically it’s a mathematical principle so it’s verbose to break into words/concepts but essentially certain parts of the universe are intrinsic, and our naming of these things does not have any effect on what they do. So for example if you took all protons and suddenly they were negative and all electrons were suddenly positive the actual balance of the universe would remain the same. It basically ensures that across the entire universe these concepts remain the same regardless of naming conventions. I’m neither a physicist nor mathematician so hopefully I didn’t butcher that hahah
Once upon a time in the 18th Century, Benjamin Franklin (yeah, that one) was doing experiments with electricity and eventually came to the correct conclusion that you can get energy out of it by having charged particles travel from one spot to another. He decided to name the source of the flow the cathode and the destination the anode, but he didn’t know from first principles which was which. He arbitrarily decided which end was the source and that it sent out positive particles into the cathode which would have a negative charge. Other physicists just went with it since they also had no idea which direction the flow happened in.
Fast forward a couple generations and physicists actually did discover the source of electrical flow, the electron… and it turned out to go from the anode to the cathode. Oops. By then, a lot of conventions had been made around how electric and magnetic fields work with respect to the anode and cathode, so they had to make a tough decision: Either change the definitions of positive and negative electrical charges, which would require changing a lot of math, or simply redefine the direction of electric flow, which had minimal effect on the underlying math. Being the easier path, they went with the second option.
That’s the only reason that electrons are negative. If Benjamin Franklin flipped his coin and got heads instead of tails, they’d be positive instead.
Once upon a time in the 18th Century, Benjamin Franklin (yeah, that one) was doing experiments with electricity and eventually came to the correct conclusion that you can get energy out of it by having charged particles travel from one spot to another. He decided to name the source of the flow the cathode and the destination the anode, but he didn’t know from first principles which was which. He arbitrarily decided which end was the source and that it sent out positive particles into the cathode which would have a negative charge. Other physicists just went with it since they also had no idea which direction the flow happened in.
Fast forward a couple generations and physicists actually did discover the source of electrical flow, the electron… and it turned out to go from the anode to the cathode. Oops. By then, a lot of conventions had been made around how electric and magnetic fields work with respect to the anode and cathode, so they had to make a tough decision: Either change the definitions of positive and negative electrical charges, which would require changing a lot of math, or simply redefine the direction of electric flow, which had minimal effect on the underlying math. Being the easier path, they went with the second option.
That’s the only reason that electrons are negative. If Benjamin Franklin flipped his coin and got heads instead of tails, they’d be positive instead.
Electrons are negative because that’s the name we gave the effect that it has on its surroundings. We used to think electrons were positive but later discovered they were opposite. Turns out the math still works
Electrons are negative because that’s the name we gave the effect that it has on its surroundings. We used to think electrons were positive but later discovered they were opposite. Turns out the math still works
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