Chapter 19, Problem 1CQ

The fact that the electron has a negative charge and the proton has a positive charge is due to a convention established by Benjamin Franklin. Would there have been any significant consequences if Franklin had chosen the opposite convention? Is there any advantage to naming charges plus and minus as opposed to, say, A and B?

To determine

Whether there are any significant consequences if Franklin had chosen the opposite convention or not and whether there is any advantage to naming the charges plus and minus as opposed to, say $\text{A}$ and $\text{B}$.

Answer to Problem 1CQ

There are no such significant consequences if Franklin had chosen the opposite convention and there is big advantage to naming the charges plus and minus as opposed to, say $\text{A}$ and $\text{B}$.

Explanation of Solution

The sign convention of the charge of electron and proton is minus and plus respectively and when the charges of the electron is interchanged with each other, there is no such effect on the basic science because the total charge of the system is still zero.

The use of plus and is minus signs do have a big advantage because it shows that the system has a zero charge which means that there is an equal amount of the positive and negative charge and when the labels are opposed to $\text{A}$ and $\text{B}$ it becomes difficult to define the zero charge.

Conclusion:

Therefore, there are no such significant consequences if Franklin had chosen the opposite convention or not.