PLASMA: CAN WE HARNESS THE FUEL OF STARS?
→THE FORGOTTEN STATE
Plasma is the fourth fundamental state of matter, in which extremely high temperatures split atoms.
→THE NEW ENGINE
Electrically-charged particles of plasma can be tamed, and might provide climate-friendly fuel for planes.
→INFINITE ENERGY
Scientists aim to capture plasma in powerful magnetic fields to allow fusion power – an infinite energy source.
Huge brooding grey-black banks of cloud fill the sky. Inside them, electrically-charged water drops and ice crystals are travelling up and down the cloud. Negative charges gradually collect at the bottom of the cloud, while Earth’s surface grows ever more positively charged. Then suddenly the tension is equalised by a spectacular energy discharge: lightning.
Every time we see lightning, we are seeing plasma, the fourth fundamental state of matter – as compared with the three more familiar ones: solid, liquid, and gas. It is the intensive energy discharge of lightning that converts the air into plasma, in which atomic nuclei and electrons have been separated. In a split second, 10,000 amperes of current is discharged, travelling between the Earth’s surface and the cloud at supersonic speed and heating the surrounding air to 25,000°C. The intense heat peels electrons off nitrogen and oxygen atoms in the air, converting
