Group 6A Includes oxygen, one of the most abundant elements. The charges in the atom are crucial in understanding how the atom works. An electron has a negative charge, a proton has a positive charge and a neutron has no charge. Electrons and protons have the same magnitude of charge. Like charges repel, so protons repel one another as do electrons.
Opposite charges attract which causes the electrons to be attracted to the protons.
As the electrons and protons grow farther apart, the forces they exert on each other decrease. There are different models of the structure of the atom. One of the first models was created by Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist. Each orbit represents an energy level which can be determined using equations generated by Planck and others discussed in more detail below. The Bohr model was later proven to be incorrect.