Planck charge: a natural unit of electric charge

planckCharge is the charge unit derived from fundamental constants in Planck units. It combines the reduced Planck constant, the speed of light, and the vacuum electric constant, providing a scale for theoretical physics rather than a laboratory charge standard.

Use and interpretation

It is useful when nondimensionalizing equations in quantum gravity or natural-unit calculations. Compare elementaryCharge, the charge carried by a proton in magnitude, and planckLength, another Planck-scale unit.

Caveats

This is not a common SI working unit. Keep units explicit when mixing it with coulombs, and use multiply and divide only after establishing a consistent unit convention.

Use Planck Charge in a calculation

Enter planckCharge on a calculator line to see its built-in value, or place the name inside a longer expression. Keep any displayed unit attached when converting or combining physical quantities, and check that every other value uses a compatible dimension.

The example above is editable, so you can replace surrounding values and test the constant in your own formula. Browse all constants to compare related values and notation.