When objects become charged it is electrons that are transferred from one object to another rather than protrons?

Answer 1

1) Electrons are only a thousands of the mass of protons.
2) Electrons are held to an atom by electromagnetic forces,
the protons are held by the strong force ... which is much more powerful.

Answer 2

Protons, which are positively charged, can be considered as electricity (in its most basic form). But protons are busy being part of atomic nuclei. If a proton is wandering around by itself, it will capture an electron and create a hydrogen atom. Always. Any other protons around are part of other atomic nuclei. So protons aren't generally thought of as electricity or as "components of current" like we consider electrons. Electricity is almost exclusively the province of the electron. When charges are separated, it is the electron that does the "moving" to effect the transference of charge. By the simple mechanism of separating two things, electrons are pulled out of their Fermi energy levels and into a conduction band to effect charge transference and the creation of a static charge. Anyone who has used plastic wrap has caused (by what is called triboelectric effect) the separation of charges and the creation of a static differential. (That is what makes the wrap so difficult to maneuver to suit its use.) Electrons are mobile. Protons are generally not. Protons are not available under any "normal circumstances" to participate in charge transfer. They're busy being nucleons, either being an atomic nucleus (as in hydrogen) or part of a collection of other nucleons (protons and neutrons) to be the nucleus of another atom.

Answer 3

Electrons form clouds around the atom. Some electrons are very distant from the nucleus of the atom and that distance makes it very easy for the electron to break away. The protons are centered in the nucleus with the strong nuclear force holding them together making it a lot harder to break off.

Answer 4

Protons are enormously massive in comparison to electrons, and attempting to remove them from the nucleus would be near impossible. Plus, the electrons are on the outside of the atom structure, and moving them would not change the substance conducting the electricity.

Answer 5

A proton is approximately 2000 times heavier than an electron. It therefore has greater inertia. In addition, protons get bound up in the nucleus by their attraction to neutrons (which are slightly heavier than protons). All the particles in any given atomic nucleus are connected to each other, by the strong nuclear force. So you really have to compare the mass of the whole nucleus to that of an electron, and even a relatively light element such as carbon has, in a typical isotope, 12 particles in its nucleus having a total weight which is 24,000 times that of an electron (approximately). This is a very big difference.

Answer 6

Yes. Electrons exist in energy levels around the nucleus of an atom and can bounce between different atoms which will change the charge.