Why is charge quantised the way it is?

Question

remember,

sorry I failed to appreciate the depth and subtlety of your question - I was worn out going thru a mass of really idiotic questions and was getting rather impatient. I should have known better, being a former student of Professor Dirac!

And I have the most enormous respect for Mistress Bekki's always well-considered answers.

Answer 1

looks like you are quoting a former answer. why are you doing that?

To answer why, we would need to go into quantum mechanics, which I'm not qualified to discuss (I don't think anyone can make it understandable).

Why do you need to know "why"? That question is usually unanswerable when it comes to the basic physical quantities. It just is, is usually the answer.

.

Answer 2

Are you actually looking for a clarification of the answer?

Or just apologizing (which is better done by private msg).  Your answer wasn't that bad anyway.  RK realized that he over-reacted to it.

Answer 3

Quarks have fractional charges but the charge on the proton is e+ because three quarks must be 'colour' free (Quantum Chromodynamics  - the theory of the strong nuclear force) in combination. It would seem that somehow the quantisation of charge, to the value of 'e' (the charge of the electron), must be subtly connected to the underlying fundamental physics of the four forces of nature!