Plasma
Plasma (physics)
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Plasma
Top row: both lightning and electric sparks are everyday examples of phenomena made from plasma. Neon lights could more accurately be called "plasma lights", as the light comes from the plasma inside of them. Bottom row: A plasma globe, illustrating some of the more complex phenomena of a plasma, including filamentation. The colors are a result of relaxation of electrons in excited states to lower energy states after they have recombined with ions. These processes emit light in a spectrum characteristic of the gas being excited. The second image is of a plasma trail from Space Shuttle Atlantis during re-entry into the atmosphere, as seen from the International Space Station.
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Plasma (from Greek πλάσμα, "anything formed"[1]) is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and gas). Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms (reducing or increasing the number of electrons in them), thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions.[2] Ionization can be induced by other means, such as strong electromagnetic field applied with a laser or microwave generator, and is accompanied by the dissociation of molecular bonds, if present.[3]
The presence of a non-negligible number of charge carriers makes the plasma electrically conductive so that it responds strongly to electromagnetic fields. Plasma, therefore, has properties quite unlike those of solids, liquids, or gases and is considered a distinct state of matter. Like gas, plasma does not have a definite shape or a definite volume unless enclosed in a container; unlike gas, under the influence of a magnetic field, it may form structures such as
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Plasma.
Plasma
Top row: both lightning and electric sparks are everyday examples of phenomena made from plasma. Neon lights could more accurately be called "plasma lights", as the light comes from the plasma inside of them. Bottom row: A plasma globe, illustrating some of the more complex phenomena of a plasma, including filamentation. The colors are a result of relaxation of electrons in excited states to lower energy states after they have recombined with ions. These processes emit light in a spectrum characteristic of the gas being excited. The second image is of a plasma trail from Space Shuttle Atlantis during re-entry into the atmosphere, as seen from the International Space Station.
Continuum mechanics Laws[show]
Solid mechanics[show]
Fluid mechanics[show]
Rheology[show]
Scientists[show]
• v
• t
• e
Plasma (from Greek πλάσμα, "anything formed"[1]) is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and gas). Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms (reducing or increasing the number of electrons in them), thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions.[2] Ionization can be induced by other means, such as strong electromagnetic field applied with a laser or microwave generator, and is accompanied by the dissociation of molecular bonds, if present.[3]
The presence of a non-negligible number of charge carriers makes the plasma electrically conductive so that it responds strongly to electromagnetic fields. Plasma, therefore, has properties quite unlike those of solids, liquids, or gases and is considered a distinct state of matter. Like gas, plasma does not have a definite shape or a definite volume unless enclosed in a container; unlike gas, under the influence of a magnetic field, it may form structures such as