Question

How does the number of electrons compare to the number of nuclear protons?

Answer 1

Well, to an excellent approximation, the number of electrons is EQUAL to the number of protons...............

Explanation:

Well, to an excellent approximation, the number of electrons is EQUAL to the number of protons...............

And as far as we know, this proposition is not only true for chemicals and compounds in the lab; it is true for materials in the ENTIRE UNIVERSE.

Electrons, and protons, have EQUAL but OPPOSITE electric charge. As forces go, electrostatic forces are fairly strong, and operate over fairly long ranges. A mismatch between positive and negative charge would result in some catastrophic result. And thus for every electron, there is a corresponding `"nucular"` proton, which has an equal but opposite electric charge. Certainly this is true with respect to ALL of known chemistry.