What are protons, neutrons, and electrons made of? And where do they get there charges from?
Protons and neutrons are made of quarks. The people who discovered quarks needed new terminology to describe the different “types” they found, so among other things they’re defined by “colour” and “flavour.” Protons are made of three quarks, one each of Red, Green and Blue, of flavours Up and Down (Ru, Gd, Bu). Each Up quark has a charge of 2/3, while each Down quark has a charge of -1/3. u + u + d = 2/3 + (-1/3) + 2/3 = 3/3 = +1, which is why a proton has a charge of 1. Neutrons are as follows: Rd, Gd, Bu. d + d + u = -1/3 + -1/3 + 2/3 = 0, which is why a neutron is neutral, i.e. it has no charge. As far as we know, electrons can’t be broken down any further. They’re a type of lepton, which is similar to a quark. They just have charges of -1 on their own. As to where those charges come from… well, we can only answer that by pointing out the charges of the quarks. What you’re asking is “why do charges exist?” And we can’t answer those questions yet.
