What is the charge of an electron?

The electron carries a fundamental negative electric charge. This charge is considered a fundamental constant in physics, meaning it's a basic building block of nature and not made up of smaller charges.

Here's a summary of key facts:

• Magnitude: The magnitude of the electron's charge is approximately 1.602 x 10⁻¹⁹ coulombs (C). This is often represented by the symbol e.

• Sign: The electron's charge is negative, typically denoted as -e.

• Quantization of Charge: The charge of an electron is the smallest unit of electric charge that can exist freely (quarks have fractional charges, but they are always bound together in combinations resulting in integer multiples of e). All other charges are integer multiples of this fundamental charge. This means you can't have half an electron's charge, or a third, etc. Any charged particle will have a charge of ±ne, where 'n' is an integer.

• Importance: The electron's charge is crucial in understanding a vast range of phenomena, including electromagnetism, chemical bonding, and the behavior of matter at all scales. It's the foundation of many physical laws and theories.

It's important to note that the value 1.602 x 10⁻¹⁹ C is an experimentally determined value, and its precision is constantly being refined.