Why is a neutral atom considered to have no charge?

1 Answer
Meave60
Dec 28, 2015

The positive and negative charges cancel one another.

Explanation:

A neutral atom has equal numbers of positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons. Therefore the atom is neutral. For example, a neutral atom of oxygen has 8 protons and 8 electrons, so #"8 p"^++"8 e"^-""=0"#. The positive and negative charges cancel one another.

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