Is charge of something for (e.g.) an electron related to electromagnetic space if it exists due to energy, due to which it may have mass? I don't know about quantum mechanics or advanced particle models. Can anyone just simply give an intuitive idea?
EDIT I want to mean what actually gives electron charge if it is not assumed fundamental but result of some other physical phenomenon or it is just the quantity defined to explain physical interactions?I think now it is clear
Answer
Charge is a fundamental conserved property of particles. It is, if you like, a measure of how much a particle interacts with electromagnetic fields. A particle with charge can produce and be affected by electromagnetic fields. This is what we mean when we say a particle has electric charge. It might help to think of it as a simple quantised way to measure the coupling strength of particles with the appropriate force, as the concept of charge extends to other forces as well.
e.g:
electric charge for electromagnetic force, colour charge for strong force, etc.
Please also see @JamalS's answer which is thicker on the abstraction and shows the quantum field theoretic origins of electric charge
No comments:
Post a Comment