Electric charge the charge of an electron is negative, "−e", while that of a proton is positive, "+e". Charged particles whose charges have the same sign repel one another, and particles whose charges have different signs attract. Coulomb's law quantifies the electrostatic force between two particles by asserting that the force is proportional to the product of their charges, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. The charge of an antiparticle equals that of the corresponding particle, but with opposite sign. The electric charge of a macroscopic object is the sum of the electric charges of the particles
Charge conservation destroyed, equal numbers of positive and negative charges are destroyed. This property is supported without exception by all empirical observations so far. Although conservation of charge requires that the total quantity of charge in the universe is constant, it leaves open the question of what that quantity is. Most evidence indicates that the net charge in the universe is zero; that is, there are equal quantities of positive and negative charge. Charge conservation was first proposed by British scientist William Watson in 1746 and American statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin in 1747, although the first convincing proof was given by