NextPrevious

Electricity

Introduction

What makes an object positively charged, negatively charged, or neutral?

The massive nucleus of an atom consists of positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. It is surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. Normally atoms are neutral: the number of electrons equals the number of protons in the nucleus. A negatively charged object is an object that has an excess of electrons. A positively charged object has fewer electrons than protons in the nucleus.