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The term 'neutral charge' is meaningless, if an atom is neutral then it has no charge if it has charge then it can not be neutral.

'Neutral' means that it will not be deflected in an elecromagnetic field. Particles inside atoms are either electrically neutral (neutrons) or are 'charged' (protons and electrons). being charged means that they would be affected by an electrical field. If an electrical field is applied to either protons and electrons, they are deflected in opposite directions. Therefore protons and electrons have opposite charges. The convention is that protons have a '+' charge, and the electrons a '-' charge, although any suitable description (up/down, black/white, left/ght etc) could be used as long as one description was the opposite of the other. All atoms are neutral, as they have the same number of + protons as - electrons in them. If an atom loses or gains one or more electrons it becomes iteslf charged and is then known as an 'ion'.

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15y ago

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