why do electrons and protons have the same exact charge?
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Theoretically, we don’t know why electrons and protons have opposite charges of equal magnitude. In fact, this relationship is considered a fundamental constant (meaning it cannot be explained by referring to simpler phenomena) upon which atomic theory is built.
It has been verified experimentally that electrons and protons each hold the minimum quantifiable amount of electric charge, meaning smaller, simpler phenomena are not influenced by electromagnetic phenomena.
Some hylotheses have been proposed that attempt to explain why this is so, but have not been verified experimentally.
If they didn’t then matter couldn’t exist as we know it and so we wouldn’t be around to ask the question. This is known as the anthropic principle but is hated by most physicists as it doesn’t really explain why things are the way they are.
Protons are made up of at least 3 quarks. There are always 2 up quarks and 1 down quark, though others Amy pop into or out of existence within the proton at any time. Up quarks have +2/3 e where e is the magnitude of the charge of an electron. Down quarks have -1/3 e so two ups and a down is +2/3+2/3-1/3= +1e so it has equal magnitude, but opposite sign. Neutrons have two downs and one up giving +2/3-1/3-1/3= 0 no charge.
When physics discovers something new, there are only 3 options.
A: it can immediately be explained by other, more fundamental principles. We can understand that it happens as well as why it happens. But these more fundamental principles may or may not be explainable to the same level. These other principles also fall under one of these 3 options and just pushes the ‘why’ problem one step down the road.
B: we know that it happens, we may even be able to test the phenomenon with enough accuracy to predict it, but we don’t currently know why it happens. sometime in the future, we will learn a deeper understanding that allows us to understand why by building it from more fundamental concepts, but those more fundamental concepts are also something new that physics has discovered which must fall under one of these 3 things, which just pushes the ‘why’ problem one step down the road.
Or C: it is a completely fundamental fact that will never be understood more completely because it just is. That’s just the way our universe happened to come in existence. A truly fundamental fact of the universe cannot be explained without knowledge of how universes are made. But then, even if we could know that, we could ask why again and again and again until we eventually come across the most fundamental, unexplainable fact. Or, there is an infinite loop and C doesn’t actually exist, we can never know everything. The problem is, we have no idea whether something we can’t yet explain is from B or from C. There is literally no way to know if in the future, we will have advanced enough measurements techniques and understanding to probe that question.
Currently, the answer to why does an electron have -1.602*10^(-19) C and why an up quark has 2/3 that magnitude with the opposite charge and why the down quark has 1/3 that charge falls in either B or C. We can’t answer why, but we know that it is a true fact in our universe and nothing would be the same if it weren’t always true.
That is part of the very basis on which reality sits. There is no answer to this question because there are no component systems which govern this: you can’t peel back the onion any further. Electrons and Protons have the same charge because they do: it’s that simple.
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