Charge conservation charge in a region and the flow of charge into and out of that region, given by a continuity equation between charge density formula_1 and current density formula_2. This does not mean that individual positive and negative charges cannot be created or destroyed. Electric charge is carried by subatomic particles such as electrons and protons. Charged particles can be created and destroyed in elementary particle reactions. In particle physics, charge conservation means that in reactions that create charged particles, equal numbers of positive and negative particles are always created, keeping the net amount of charge unchanged. Similarly, when particles are
Charge radius customary when charge radius takes an imaginary numbered value to report the negative valued square of the charge radius, rather than the charge radius itself, for a particle. The best known particle with a negative squared charge radius is the neutron. The heuristic explanation for why the squared charge radius of a neutron is negative, despite its overall neutral electric charge, is that this is the case because its negatively charged down quarks are, on average, located in the outer part of the neutron, while its positively charged up quark is, on average, located towards the center of the neutron.