What is the overall charge of the nucleus? What is the charge of an electron?

Question

plz plz help!! thank thank thank you!!

Answer 1

All atoms on a whole scale are electrically neutral. The electrons zipping around in the electron cloud are negative in charge. The nucleus is made up of protons and sometimes neutrons. Protons are positively charged and neutrons are neutral. The neutrons are just there to keep the protons together by use of the nuclear forces to overcome the electromagnetic force--since normally "like" charges repel, and all the protons are "like" positive charges.
Anyway, by interpreting your question word for word, the "nucleus" of an atom would have a positive charge.

Answer 2

Charge of the nucleus
It depends on which aspect would you like to view.

In chemistry, we only interested in the relative charge. Actually, in an atom, there are proton(s), neutron(s) and electron(s). A proton has the charge of positive 1.6 X 10 to the power of -19 coulomb (Q = +1.6E-19). A neutron is said as chargeless (Q=0). An electron meanwhile has an opposite charge of a proton, which is negative 1.6 X 10 to the power of -19 coulomb. (Q = - 1.6E-19).

We normally abbreviate +1.6E-19 coulomb as +e and -1.6E-19 coulomb as -e.

Let say we take a carbon atom as an example. A carbon atom has 6 protons and (normally) 6 neutrons in its nucleus. For the atom to be electrically stable (chargeless), it must has 6 electrons. Note that the nucleus has charge contributed by 6 protons and 6 neutrons .
Thus the nucleus of a carbon atom has charge,(Q)= 6(+e) + 6(0)
= 6(+e)
= 6 X 1.6 X 10^-19 coulomb

If the carbon atom is electrically stable, the number of electrons = the number of protons. Since a carbon atom has 6 protons, it must also has 6 electrons, so that the net charge of the ATOM (not the nucleus) is 0 [ (6e) + (-6e) ]

Just now, i have mentioned about relative charge. What does it means? In chemistry, we only interested in the relative charge. We don't care about the troublesome of 1.6E-19.
The nucleus charge of a carbon atom = 6 (1.6E-19)
= 6(+e)

The relative charge of a nucleus of a carbon atom = +6


In short, i can conclude to you that,
The charge of an electron = -1.6 X 10^-19 coulomb

The overall charge of a nucleus of an atom of an element
Q = Z (+ 1.6 X 10^-19 coulomb)
= Z (+ e)
= +Ze

where Z is the number of proton(s) inside a nucleus of an atom (please refer to a periodic table). For examle, Z=1 for a hydrogen atom, Z=2 for a helium atom, Z=3 for a lithium atom, Z=4 for a beryllium atom, Z=5 for a boron atom, Z=6 for a carbon atom, Z=7 for a nitrogen atom, Z=8 for an oxygen atom, Z=9 for a fluorine atom, Z=10 for a neon atom, Z=11 for a sodium(natrium) atom, Z=12 for a magnesium atom, Z=13 for an aliminium atom, Z=14 for silicon atom, Z=15 for phosphoros atom, Z=16 for a sulphur atom, Z=17 for a chlorine atom, Z=18 for an argon atom, Z=19 for a kalium(potassium) atom, Z=20 for a calcium atom, and so on. Please refer to a periodic table.

Answer 3

I'm not sure what the overall charge of a nucleus is but the charge of an electron I am pretty sure is 0. I may be wrong. It's the same as the proton's charge.

Answer 4

The charge of a nucleus is equal to its atomic number, multipled by the charge of an electron. The charge of an electron is 1.6E-19 coulombs.