There are two types of building blocks to everything in the universe: fermions and bosons. Fermions are units of mass. Fermions are the building blocks which make stuff. Bosons are units of force. Bosons are the mechanisms of interaction and exchange. There are four different types of forces in the Standard Model: electromagnetic force, the strong force, the weak force and gravity. The electromagnetic force explains electricity, magnetism, and other electromagnetic waves including light and it is carried by the photon. The strong force holds quarks together to make hadrons such as protons and neutrons. The weak force keeps atoms together to make bigger stuff.
Nearly everything in the physical universe is made up of just three fermions, two types of quark and an electron. Each type of quark carries a specific charge. Up quarks carry a positive two thirds charge (+2/3). Down quarks carry a negative one third charge (-1/3). Electrons carries a ‘whole’ negative charge (-1).
Depending on how these three quarks are arranged, you can arrive at a particle with no charge (neutron) or a whole positive charge (proton).
Protons are made of two up (+2/3) + (+2/3) =+4/3 and one down (-1/3) quarks. Combining the third charge of the down quark means you take the negative charge from the positive charge, ending up with a whole unit of positive charge (+4/3) + (-1/3) = (+3/3) =+1
Neutrons are made of one up and two down quarks. Combined, we arrive at no charge. (+2/3) + (-1/3) + (-1/3) = 0
When two electrons interact, they repel each other, exchanging photons. This is the electromagnetic force. Bosons communicate Strong and Weak forces, with ‘heavy’ bosons expressing the weak force and Gluons (another type of boson) expressing the strong force. When atoms interact, they exchange bosons of one type or another. They can also break. One atom might interact with another atom, breaking away a part of one or both, combining with part or all of the other, and so