Questions and Answers

What kind of charge does a proton have? And what kind of charge does a neutron have?

A proton has positive charge of 1, that is, equal but opposite to the charge of an electron. A neutron, like the name implies, is neutral with no net charge.

The charge is believed to be from the charge of the quarks that make up the nucleons (protons and neutrons). A proton is made of two Up quarks, with 2/3 positive charge each and one Down Quark with a negative 1/3 charge (2/3 + 2/3 + -1/3 = 1). A neutron is made up of two Down quarks with a negative 1/3 charge each and one Up quark with a positive 2/3 charge. (-1/3 + -1/3 + 2/3 = 0).

Author:

Brian Kross, Chief Detector Engineer (Other answers by Brian Kross)