Colin James Physics - Electric charge.
Last updated: 25th June 2013.
What is the cause of electric charge?
I am interested in fundamental questions such as 'What is the cause of electric charge?' beyond the standard answer of 'charge is a property/label associated with some elementary particles and not others'.
Items on this page give a possible explanation of why some elementary particles possess charge and others do not and at the same time accounts for the diffuse nature of the electron. The published paper goes on to show how quark charges (2/3, 1/3) occur in the ratio of 2:1.
Summary of 'What is the cause of electric charge?'
Easy to understand (non-technical) explanation of 'What is the cause of electric charge?'
More technical explanation of 'What is the cause of electric charge?' The following links show the same information in different formats:
Published paper on 'What is the cause of electric charge?' (as an HTML file). Opens in a new window.
Published paper on 'What is the cause of electric charge?' (as a pdf file). Opens in a new window.
Published paper on 'What is the cause of electric charge?' (on the vixra pre-print server as a pdf file). Opens in a new window.
Easy to understand (non-technical) explanation of 'What is the cause of electric charge?'
This page gives you a non-technical explanation of what might cause electric charge.
It is designed to be straightforward, light hearted and has no mathematics in it.
Contents of this page.
Introduction.
Motor boat in a straight line.
Motor boat in a circle.
Particle with no electric charge.
Electron - particle with electric charge.
Introduction.
Many people ask fundamental questions. One of them is: What causes electric charge? or What is electric charge made of?
Most explanations of 'what is electric charge?' end up with atoms which contain amongst other particles: electrons (negatively charged particles) and protons (positively charged particles).
If you push a physicist to explain why some particles are charged and others are not, he or she will probably say 'it is just a label that some particles have and others do not. You can't say what it is'.
Here I put forward a recent idea which seems to get beyond the 'you can't explain it' and shows how charged particles differ from neutral particles in terms of containment by the vacuum (the space between sub-atomic particles) for a particle such as an electron.
Before you wonder how the vacuum can affect particles it is worth explaining that it is not empty as was once thought but is now thought to contain pairs of particles that appear and disappear and can influence a particle like the electron.
The theory goes on to account for the 2:1 ratio of the fractional charges of particles called 'quarks' that are contained in protons and similar particles. On this page we just look at how an electron may get its electric charge.
We start off by looking at the difference between a motor boat moving in a straight line and one moving in a circle.
Consider a motor boat travelling slowly in a straight line on water.
It makes some ripples and waves but no major disturbance over long distances.
Picture a motor boat being steered continuously in a circle on water.
The motor boat will be pushing water outwards away from the centre of the circle. The lighter
central region suggests a lower water level while the darker outer region suggests a higher water level.
'But wait a minute', I can hear you say. The water pushed out will flow back in because water finds its own level.'
Quite right. There will be a continuous outward flow and a compensating inward flow.
Something similar may happen with the electron and the double flow can account for the fact that the electron can repel particles with the same electric charge using the outward flow and attract particles with opposite charge using the inward flow.
We now move on from a motor boat to a particle without electric charge and one with electric charge.
Electron neutrino (no electric charge).
There is a particle called the electron neutrino (from the Italian for 'small neutral one') which travels close to the speed of light.
It moves in a straight line unless deflected.
The electron neutrino is not contained by the vacuum and has no electric charge.
It's motion resembles the motor boat moving in a straight line.
Free electron (an electrically charged particle).
There is a particle called the electron which is present in all atoms. It can also be a free particle (not bound in an atom).
It may be 'stationary' (located in a small region of space).
The electron is contained by the vacuum and has electric charge.
It's motion resembles the motor boat moving in a circle.
This explanation of the cause of electric charge also explains the diffuse nature of the electron (why the electron cannot be pinned down to an exact location).
You might ask 'where does the power come from to keep the electron moving in a circle?'
In fact the electron may be kept in its circular orbit without losing energy by what are known as elastic (energy conserving) collisions. Neither the electron nor the particles that interact with it transfer energy, they merely change direction during collisions.
A motor boat experiences resistive forces known as 'drag' that slow it down which require a motor and fuel to keep the boat moving.
End of page.