6.1 Electric Charge and Force

Electric Charge

Just like mass, charge is a fundamental property of matter. It can be positive, negative, or 0. Charge is a scalar, measured in coulombs (C), and represented with the variable q. The smallest charge is that of a single proton or electron, which can be represented as a charge of e or -e respectively. To quantify the charge of a proton or electron in coulombs, it equals to ${e=1.602*10^{-19}C}$. Just like with mass, we can treat a large, charged object as just a point charge with all of its charge at its center of charge (or usually just its center).