Mr. badger is a chemistry teacher. he is teaching his class about the properties of atoms. at center of an atom are its protons, each of which have a charge of +1. surrounding the outside of the atom are electrons, each of which have a charge of -1. these charge numbers can be added like any other positive and negative numbers. when the amount of protons and electrons in an atom are equal, the atom has a charge of 0. here is an example of a hydrogen atom with a charge of 0.