What makes the flow of electron (negatively charged particle) special (capable of being a mode of power) and not flow of proton (postively charged particle).
In: Physics
Actually, there is such a thing as what you might call ‘protonicity’ (not that it’s actually called that). All the energy used by your muscles and various other mechanisms in your body is in the form of a chemical called ATP (short for Adenosine Triphosphate), which is manufactured in the mitochondria in each of your cells by a kind of electric motor. But this electric motor, rather than being driven by the movement of electrons, is driven by the movement of protons. While electricity works by electrons seeking to move away from a negatively charged area to a more positively charged area (hence balancing out the electric charge), these protons (or hydrogen ions, as you might think of them) are seeking to move away from an acidic area (which is an area containing more hydrogen ions) towards a more alkali area (which contains less hydrogen ions), and hence balance the pH. The mechanism is a little different, but still driven by the electromagnetic force.
The question then is why it’s rare to see examples of protons carrying current. This is basically because it’s usually more convenient to make our technology out of solid materials like metal, and in those, the protons remain stuck to the atoms, which all have to remain in one place in a solid, whereas the electrons can still move about a bit from atom to atom. In technology made largely out of liquid however – and human beings are about 60% water – atoms can be free to move about, and if they are ions (electrically charged atoms) then they can act as the charge carriers. This happens in batteries, in the nervous system including the brain (where sodium, potassium and other ions are used to carry electric charge) and when the atom involved is hydrogen, it’s positive ion is basically a proton, making it reasonable to say that protons can carry electricity.
You could imagine it like this.
Which is easier, to move something on a road, or move the road?. Electrons are happy to move along the road, protons would like to stay as they are as a road. Of course if you got enough energy you could force the road to move, but you are going you break it.
This made sense to me atleast.
That’s like asking why ping pong can flow through a giant pipe, but magnetic bowling balls can’t. The answer is self-evident, and it’s kinda the same for protons.
The word electricity predates knowledge of protons and electrons, electrons are by definition the things that are flowing. We knew there were two charges, but didn’t know which one was moving and actually guessed wrong. Now electrical schematics show electricity flowing the wrong way.
As for the physics behind it, electrons are loosely bound on the outside of the atom, while protons are tightly bound on the interior. Electrons are used for electricity for the same reason you drive to work, rather than the building coming to you.
Protons and electrons are completely different particles that just happen to have opposite electric charges. Protons are tightly bound to the nucleus due to other properties besides charge. There isn’t anything special about negative charge that makes it easier to move around, and in fact in antimatter you would instead have positively-charged anti-electrons flowing while negatively-charged anti-protons remain in place.
Electricity involves the movement of electrons. Electrons can move from one atom to another quite often, but protons don’t move from one atom to another unless there’s some kind of nuclear reaction going on
Proton are in the kernel of the atom so they can’t be exchanged with other atoms… Hence they don’t flow so no protonicity.
Electrons are the exterior of the atom and thousand time lighter so easier to move
The energy bonds of the protons are very, very strong. While we can remove outer layer electrons with ease to achieve current, it’s literal alchemy to remove a proton – it changes the underlying atomic number, the substance is no longer the same substance.
Electrons weigh a lot less than protons and they’re much much smaller.
This allows them to move much more easily than protons. In fact they can move so easily, they can move like waves through some solids (like metals) almost completely unhindered which gives us electricity. Protons always move like particles.
Protons can actually do a neat trick in water that well call the Grötthus mechanism (spelling maybe wrong) that allows them to conduct almost like electrons, however even though this is a unique case, the speed at which the protons move compared to electrons (conductivity) is still lower than electrons in a metal wire.
P.s. most of the answers here are trash.
I got super-interested in this question a while back. In electrical wiring, electrons act as the “charge carrier”, but in other circumstances the charge can be carried by more complex ions and, yes, [even protons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_conductor). For example, [protons in water ice](https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b9bd/c3ce15dd09a2bc59d410ad1d36d9c2bc7246.pdf) will carry charge, which has been tested for applications like de-icing.
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