In physics and chemistry, plasma is a state of matter similar to gas in which a certain portion of the particles are ionized.

After sufficient heating a gas dissociates its molecular bonds, rendering it into constituent atoms. However, further heating may also lead to ionization (a loss or gain of electrons) of the molecules or atoms of the gas, thus turning it into a plasma, containing charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons. 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 filaments, beams and double layers. Some common plasmas are stars and neon signs. In the universe, plasma is the most common state of matter for ordinary matter, most of which is in the rarefied intergalactic plasma (particularly intracluster medium) and in stars. Plasma was first identified in a Crookes tube, and so described by Sir William Crookes in 1879 (he called it "radiant matter"). The nature of the Crookes tube "cathode ray" matter was subsequently identified by British physicist Sir J.J. Thomson in 1897, and dubbed "plasma" by Irving Langmuir in 1928, perhaps because it characteristic that the glowing discharge mold itself to any shape into which the tube is formed. Langmuir wrote: Except near the electrodes, where there are sheaths containing very few electrons, the ionized gas contains ions and electrons in about equal numbers so that the resultant space charge is very small. We shall use the name plasma to describe this region containing balanced charges of ions and electrons. COMMON PLASMAS Plasmas are by far the most common phase of matter in the universe, both by mass and by volume. All the stars are made of plasma, and even the space between the stars is filled with a plasma, albeit a very sparse one. In our solar system, the planet Jupiter accounts for most of the non-plasma, only about 0.1% of the mass and 1015% of the volume within the orbit of Pluto. Very small grains within a gaseous plasma will also pick up a net negative charge, so that they in turn may act like a very heavy negative ion component of the plasma (see dusty plasmas). Artificially produced Those found in plasma displays, including TVs Inside fluorescent lamps (low energy lighting), neon signs[7]

Terrestrial plasmas Lightning Ball lightning St. Elmo's fire Upper-atmospheric lightning The ionosphere

Space and Astrophysical plasmas The Sun and other stars (plasmas heated by nuclear fusion) The solar wind The interplanetary

Rocket exhaust and ion thrusters The area in front of a spacecraft's heat shield during re-entry into the atmosphere Inside a corona discharge ozone generator Fusion energy research The electric arc in an arc lamp, an arc welder or plasma torch Plasma ball (sometimes called a plasma sphere or plasma globe) Arcs produced by Tesla coils (resonant air core transformer or disruptor coil that produces arcs similar to lightning but with alternating current rather than static electricity) Plasmas used in semiconductor device fabrication including reactive-ion etching, sputtering, surface cleaning and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition Laser-produced plasmas (LPP), found when high power lasers interact with materials. Inductively coupled plasmas (ICP), formed typically in argon gas for optical emission spectroscopy or mass spectrometry Magnetically induced plasmas (MIP), typically produced using microwaves as a resonant

The polar aurorae Most flames

medium (space between planets) The interstellar medium (space between star systems) The Intergalactic medium (space between galaxies) The Io-Jupiter flux tube Accretion discs Interstellar nebulae

coupling method.