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Mass and Charge
Although protons and electrons are in some ways complementary parts of the atom, they differ greatly in their physical properties. The mass of a proton is small on an absolute scale but it is still about two thousand times greater than that of the electron. These two particles also have opposite charges. Protons have a charge of +1 and electrons have a charge of -1.
Composition
Electrons and protons differ in their composition. From what science has determined to date, electrons are not made of anything else, so they are known as elementary particles, and physicists have put them in a class known as leptons. Protons, however, belong to a class of subatomic particles known as baryons, which are made of collections of smaller particles. They are composed of elementary particles called quarks. Two "up" quarks and one "down" quark combine to make a proton.
Location
The proton and electron inhabit different areas of the atom in which they both reside. Protons, together with neutral neutrons, are located in the inner core, or nucleus, of the atom. The nucleus contains the vast majority of the mass of the atom. Electrons, in contrast, are located on the periphery of the atom, where they are constantly in motion. They move in defined areas around the nucleus known as orbitals, each of which has a certain set amount of energy associated with it.
Activity
Protons are essentially static and stable inside the nucleus, although there are theories that they can decay over exceptionally long time spans. Electrons are very mobile, though, and this mobility accounts for the reactions seen between chemicals. When two atoms approach one another, each can donate an electron to form a shared pair of electrons in a changed orbital which goes around both atoms. This results in a chemical bond between the two. Another possibility is that an electron can transfer from one of the atoms to the other, creating opposite charges on the two and resulting in an ionic bond.