Why did we decide one side of a magnet or proton was a “positive charge” and the otherside of a magnet or all electrons were “negative” charges?

Question

Would it matter if we all just decided one day to switch them and say all protons were negative and electrons were positive?

In: Physics

Answer 1

For protons/electrons the answer is that is what Benjamin Franklin decided it should be.

Back in the day Benjamin Franklin discovered that if he rubbed a glass rod with silk and a rubber rod with fur while hanging those rods from string, the rods would attract each other. However if he hung two glass rods and rubbed them both with silk they would repel. He didn’t understand the specifics of what was going on but he puzzled out that there was something (charge) being added/removed from the rods, and that like charges repelled and opposite charges attracted. He arbitrarily decided that the glass rod would be the positive charge, this set the convention for charge. It turns out that the glass rod rubbed with silk was missing electrons which means that the electron was negative.