What is the charge of a single electron?

2 Answers
Jun 9, 2018

One electron holds a negative charge of 1-

Explanation:

In an atom, the protons hold a positive charge, the neutrons a neutral charge and the electrons a negative charge. So long as it is not an ion, the charge of this atom will always be 0 overall, with the same amount of protons as electrons. So one singular electron with no proton to balance it out must have a negative charge equivalent to the number of electrons more than protons. Thus the overall charge must be 1-.

Jun 9, 2018

#-1#

Explanation:

An electron has a charge of #-1#. In terms of coulombs, it is just the negative version of the elementary charge #e#.

A charge of an electron in coulombs is approximately equal to:

#e^(-)=-1.6*10^-19 \ "C"#