In rare cases, electrons can show a fraction of their usual charge. It’s an effect that’s only been seen a handful of times – now physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have seen it in graphene.
And it could prove useful in technologies such as quantum computing.
Electrons have a single negative charge, equal and opposite to the positive charge of the proton.
But it’s not that simple, as it turns out. Electrons can also have a “fractional charge.”
Physicists call this the “fractional quantum Hall effect.” It is usually seen in very high, carefully maintained magnetic fields. But recently, it’s been shown that such strong magnetic fields are not necessary to see fractional electron charges.
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