Negative and Positive Polarities

Historically, the negative polarity has been assigned to the static charge produced on rubber, amber, and resinous materials in general. Positive polarity refers to the static charge produced on glass and other vitreous materials. On this basis, the electrons in all atoms are basic particles of negative charge because their polarity is the same as the charge on rubber. Protons have positive charge because the polarity is the same as the charge on glass.