Charge is Quantized, so why....

[BillhB]

So why do Quarks have fractional non-discrete charge? Wouldn't it just be easier to just define $\frac{1}{3}e$ as +e and vice versa to preserve the discreetness of what we define as e?

 

[phinds]

"e" was defined long before quarks were dreamed of.

 

[BillhB]

"e" was defined long before quarks were dreamed of.

Maybe so, but it still doesn't make sense why e wasn't just redefined. I don't get how we can say e is discrete, but continuous for elementary particles.

 

[Dale]

It is still discrete. It comes only in integer multiples of 1/3 e

 

[BillhB]

It is still discrete. It comes only in integer multiples of 1/3 e

That is what I was assuming was the answer, but wasn't sure. Thanks.

Any idea why they just didn't make the fractional charge the base constant?

 

[Dale]

As @phinds said, when e was discovered quarks were unknown. Redefining it later would have been inconvenient.

 

[BillhB]

As @phinds said, when e was discovered quarks were unknown. Redefining it later would have been inconvenient.

Got it, thank you.