Enhedsladninger

Enhedsladninger are elementary electric charges, meaning they are the smallest discrete units of electric charge observed in nature. The most common example is the charge of an electron, which is considered a negative elementary charge, denoted by the symbol 'e'. Conversely, the charge of a proton is a positive elementary charge, equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to the electron's charge.

These elementary charges are fundamental to understanding electromagnetism. All observable electric charges in the universe are believed to be integer multiples of this elementary charge. This principle, known as charge quantization, was a significant discovery in physics. While quarks, the constituents of protons and neutrons, possess fractional charges (like +2/3e or -1/3e), they are never observed in isolation. Instead, they are always bound together in combinations that result in integer multiples of the elementary charge for composite particles like protons and neutrons. Therefore, the elementary charge 'e' serves as the fundamental unit for quantifying electric charge.