Plasma questions.

[EnsignParis]

Ok, Liquid to Gas is called evaporation, but what is it called when a gas turns into plasma?

BTW, at what temperature does a gas turn into plasma. Specific numbers for any elements anyone knows would be really cool.

And have we heated anything hot enough on Earth for something to become plasma?



I've always wondered what the consistancy of plasma is...although I would never get close enough to find out .

[PrankishSmart]

I honestly have no idea.

[Voyager`]

i dont got much of an idea on wether it has or not
all i know is its really really really hot
it would be cool if we could learn to contain it and use it as a new heat source or sumthing for our homes pry be better for the enviorment than the forms of heat we have now

[EnsignParis]

Yeah, nice heating system for your house.

I can just see the headlines:

Plasma conduit explodes. Neighborhood in shambles.

Hehe.

[Lt.BirdGod]

lol

Well, the only thing I can tell you is that the Plasma I know of exists in two different locations, but they are two different substances too.

1) Plasma in your bloodstream.
2) Plasma in the star.

Either which way, I got nothin.

[The Delta Flyer]

[EnsignParis]

Ok, update on this whole plasma thing.

I've been reading a bit on astronomy and such, and I now know what plasma is...

It's superheated gas where the gas particles are actually moving so incredibly fast, that they start colliding and knocking electrons off of other atoms, making the gas ionized.

So yeah. Plasma = Ionized Gas.

It's often referred to as the "fourth state of matter." But I don't think it actually is.

[Lt.BirdGod]

Well, really, it is a gas particle (generalized term) with an electrical charge.

A gas, can't really hold a charge of it's own. It might be a conductor, but plasma has a charge.

[superluminal]

So u know in general what plasma is maybe i could help more.
Plasma is defined as a gas which atoms have been ionized somehow, it is a neutral mixture of electrons and nuclei, and it can be produced by hyperheating a gas or also by creating a very strong electrical field within the gas.
Plsama is very common in the universe but on earth too! the gas inside a neon lamp is a "cold" plasma, some common chemical reaction involve small quatities of plasma and there is also a little use of plasma in modern technology like plasma cutters, hypersonic wind tunnels and also spacecraft propulsion (magneto-plasma-dynamic engine).
The use of plasma as a energy vehiculum is inefficient, infact at that temperatures and speeds there would be too much energy losses in the flux, and we must consider also the cost of a plasma containment system... maybe something like microwawe beams would be more efficient.
One last thing, when a spacecraft re-enters the atmosphere, it does at very high speeds (the Spade Shuttle at Mach 25-26) so that it is sorrounded by atmospheric plasma at a temperature higher than the sun's surface.
Plase forgive any errors i'm not English

[Dax Orien]

Dude.......................................you are probably way smarter than any of us............I feel bad.......

[Whitehero]

I read somewhere that with the futher development of 'Cold Plasma' it would lead to the creation of what we would call Force Fields.

Though not made with Neon, this cold plasma is made from Helium and the density can either be increased or decreased. Meaning that the denser it becomes, the harder it is for objects or other particles to pass through.

It's believed that the density of this purple plasma could be increased to a facter so high that nothing would ever pass through it. The only problem we have today is not being able to span the plasma over large surfaces or curved ones without the need for some sort of containment to induce the electric field necessary to increace the density to such a large factor.

[Lt.BirdGod]

Superluminal:

I'd really watch that meaning of Plasma. Plasma has only been discovered in the sun, naturally speaking. We can artificially create plasma in a labratory, such as a fluorescent lighting.

As for some other things, the speed is correct, but everything else does not make sense. It isn't plasma, but really really hot gas.

[Dax Orien]

You know we could always go find a really really informative encyclopedia and actually look up the exact definition of plasma to make things easier for everyone else.

[Whitehero]

There are actually two types of plasma. There is the plasma from the sun, which is naturally called plasma, and then there is the cold plasma I mentioned before. The temperature of cold plasma is somewhere around room temperature (20 or so degrees C). If you were to put you hand in a cloud of it, the only thing you'd feel is a slight tingiling sensation from the fact that the cold plasma is sterilizing your hand.

Here's a link to a site explaining it all for all you non-belivers.

http://physicsweb.org/article/news/7/4/19

[superluminal]

Lt.BirdGod:

As for the meaning of Plasma please don't tell me to watch it, i work with Plasma everyday...
As for really, really hot gases we know that (long story short) high temperature make gas atoms lose their electrons (in part or completely) this is sufficient to call it Plasma (atmasferic "cold" Plasma around a Shuttle is created at about 15000-20000 k, not so high).
As for the only discovery of natural plasma in the Sun mmm i would review this, lightings during a storm are a form of plasma and what about ionosphere? Van Allen bounds? Interplanetary gases?

[1/1]

^^^Wow you really know your stuff! They had Plasma on this kids science show, Eureka!, and they said it's gonna be used for waterproofing things. Not much help but soon we could be wearing it!

[EnsignParis]

[superluminal]

hihihi that's too funny, i didn't notice it at all....
Well as i said before i apologize for any grammar errors (i'm not english !!And my English may not be good at all).
Thanks ENSIGN. PARIS for your notice.

[EnsignParis]

Haha, it's alright, I speak English and I don't know it perfectly well.

I'm just messin with ya man

[davecenter]

Since we are talking about plasma, does anyone think plasma tv is worth the price?

[PrankishSmart]

Not at the moment. Well, I am not going to spend $7000 on a 42 inch wide on one side plasma screen that is still experimental. I would rather get a 60 inch wide both across and up rear projection for the same price.

I have seen them on displays at stores and they look no better than good 100hz tv's.

[Neo]

hdtv distorts images peoples heads look fat on the screen

[webtaz99]

Plasma "technically" refers to any material in which electrons have been stripped from the nuclei of the atoms involved. This can be the result of electro-magenetic fields and/or extreme temperatures.

"Cold" plasma generally refers to atoms which have had electrons stripped from just the outer shell. Neon and flourescent lights are examples of this, where electicity is used to maintain the plasma. High temperatures are not required.

Physicists call a material "plasma" when ALL electrons have disassociated from the nuclei. This requires VERY high temperatures (depending on the type of atoms), on the order of millions of Kelvins.

Deuterium-tritium fusion (the EASIEST to attain) requires a stable plasma at almost 100 million K to be continuous.

[asandhu2001]

and deuterium-triterium fusion is hydrogen atoms with 2 and 3 electrons, respectively. right? because regular hydrogen has 1 electron...

[EnsignParis]

No, deuterium and tritium are two different isotopes of hydrogen, meaning they have different amounts of neutrons.