I know this has been discussed in the past years, but I'd like to put this thought out there for the Vorts who joined in the last 12 months...
What is electric 'charge'? Yes, yes, I know what it is according to fizzix books, but the Vort Collective tries to probe down past the 'practical' definition into what it *really* is. Can you separate the 'charge' of an electron (e-) or proton (p+) from its mass? First some things to consider... 1) the CHARGE of an e- and a p+ are the same magnitude, but 'opposite' 2) yet, the MASS of a p+ is 1836 times that of an e- 3) the nucleus (which contains the protons) is likewise much smaller compared to the physical extent of the electron 'shells'. Because of 1) and 2), it would seem that charge has nothing to do with mass, and because of 3), it's not a function of size/volume either. So, what is it? The fact that we build all kinds of neat and wonderful things with the current understanding of electrical charge, doesn't mean we *know* what it is. I think the older generation can grasp the significance of that, but I have concerns about the younger gen... Sometime last year I posted a question as to why the E-field and B-field in electromagnetic waves are perpendicular... someone replied with, "because of Maxwell's equations". If you don't understand why that is a non-answer, then you are probably in the younger-gen! -Mark -----Original Message----- From: Terry Blanton [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, January 09, 2012 2:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Vo]:What is the aggregate electrical charge of our sun? On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 5:41 PM, OrionWorks - Steven V Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: > Ok... > > Mark, Terry. thanks. > > I'm going have to think about this for a spell since there seem to be > different interpretations. Think of it this way: a proton might be composed of 1836 electrons. Add one more and you have a neutron! T
