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in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. [13] Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, [14] and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no known components or substructure. [1] The electron's mass is approximately 1 / 1836 that ...
Electric charge is a conserved property: the net charge of an isolated system, the quantity of positive charge minus the amount of negative charge, cannot change. Electric charge is carried by subatomic particles. In ordinary matter, negative charge is carried by electrons, and positive charge is carried by the protons in the nuclei of atoms ...
The elementary charge, usually denoted by e, is a fundamental physical constant, defined as the electric charge carried by a single proton (+1 e) or, equivalently, the magnitude of the negative electric charge carried by a single electron, which has charge −1 e. [2] [a]
Electrostatic potential map of a water molecule, where the oxygen atom has a more negative charge (red) than the positive (blue) hydrogen atoms. Electronegativity, symbolized as χ, is the tendency for an atom of a given chemical element to attract shared electrons (or electron density) when forming a chemical bond. [1]
In n-type semiconductors, electrons in the conduction band move through the crystal, resulting in an electric current. In some conductors, such as ionic solutions and plasmas, positive and negative charge carriers coexist, so in these cases an electric current consists of the two types of carrier moving in opposite directions.
Since current can be the flow of either positive or negative charges, or both, a convention is needed for the direction of current that is independent of the type of charge carriers. Negatively charged carriers, such as the electrons (the charge carriers in metal wires and many other electronic circuit components), therefore flow in the ...
By modern convention, the charge carried by electrons is defined as negative, and that by protons is positive. [33] Before these particles were discovered, Benjamin Franklin had defined a positive charge as being the charge acquired by a glass rod when it is rubbed with a silk cloth. [34]
An ion that has more electrons than protons, giving it a net negative charge, is named an anion, and a minus indication "Anion (−)" indicates the negative charge. With a cation it is just the opposite: it has fewer electrons than protons, giving it a net positive charge, hence the indication "Cation (+)".