An imbalance of causes an object to be charged. electrons protons neutrons quarks

An imbalance of electrons causes an object to be charged. A charged substance is one that has a net charge that is not zero. If the number of protons and that of electrons is equal in an object, the object is not neutral, but it has zero charge. Loss or gain of electrons determine the charge of an object, when an object loses electrons it becomes positively charged, but when it gains electrons it becomes negatively charged.