Charge Is Conserved

Conservation of Charge

When two bodies are charged by rubbing, electrons are transferred from one body to the other. No new charge is created, and no existing charge is destroyed — only the carriers of charge (electrons) move.

This leads to a fundamental principle: charge is conserved.

• In any rubbing process, the total charge of the two bodies together remains the same.
• What one body gains in charge, the other loses by an equal amount.
• For an isolated system (no exchange of charge with the outside), the total charge is always constant.
• Even when charges redistribute among many bodies inside the system, the net charge does not change.

Experimental Basis

Conservation of charge is not an assumption — it is established experimentally. No experiment has ever violated it.

Creation and Destruction of Particles

Even when charged particles are created or destroyed, the net charge remains conserved.

Example: A neutron (neutral) turns into a proton and an electron:

• The proton has charge $+e$. …