ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Truly neutral particle

Imagine you have a bunch of balls that are different colors: red, blue, and yellow. Sometimes we say that a ball has a charge, kind of like how you can feel a shock when you touch a metal doorknob after rubbing your socks on the carpet. If a ball has a charge, it can be positive, negative, or neutral. A positive ball can make other things with a charge feel attracted to it, while a negative ball can make other things with a charge feel repelled.

Now, let's focus on the neutral ball. A neutral ball doesn't have a charge, which means it doesn't attract or repel other things with a charge. It just kinda hangs out, not really doing much. It's like the ball in the middle of a game of catch - it doesn't care which person throws it, it just goes wherever it's supposed to go.

In science, we study particles that are smaller than balls. Some of these particles have a charge, like protons (which are positive) and electrons (which are negative). But there are also particles that are neutral, which means they have no charge. These particles are called truly neutral because they don't have even a tiny bit of a charge - they're completely neutral, like that middle ball in the game of catch.

One example of a truly neutral particle is a neutron. Neutrons are particles that live inside atoms, and they don't have a charge like the protons and electrons do. They're kind of like the "glue" that holds the nucleus (the center of the atom where the protons and neutrons are) together.

So, to sum it up: a truly neutral particle, like a neutron, doesn't have a charge like some other particles do. It doesn't attract or repel other things with a charge, it just kind of exists. Just like the middle ball in a game of catch!