Plasma: It's a Big Deal

Intro        What is it?       How is it Made?        Lightning       The Aurora        The Sun           Bibliography

First of all, let us get one thing straight: plasma is not a rare, mysterious substance that is in between the liquid state of matter and the solid state. It is estimated that 99% of our entire universe is made of plasma. It is only rare here on Earth because the conditions to make plasma are so extreme. It is the state of matter that comes after the gaseous state of matter. In Chemistry, authors Raymond Chang and Ken Goldsby describe plasma as "... a gaseous mixture of positive ions and electrons..."
State diagram
(www.plasmas.org/what-are-plasmas.htm)


Plasma is special in that it exhibits properties of gas, such as not having shape or volume unless confined in a container and having very large distances between particles, but is also an excellent conductor because of all those free electrons (unlike gases; gases are notoriously poor conductors), and also can be directed by a magnetic field. However, the question is, how did those electrons become so footloose and fancy free? Aren't electrons and the nucleus of an atom bonded together tightly? The answer lies in the next page.

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