Four states of matter

[hamman]

I know the four states of matter as SOLID, LIQUID, GASEOUS and PLASMA, but do not understand the concept of PLASMA:confused: Could anyone help me out? What does a plasma state actually mean? Any examples?

[RyanJ]

I know the four states of matter as SOLID, LIQUID, GASEOUS and PLASMA, but do not understand the concept of PLASMA:confused: Could anyone help me out? What does a plasma state actually mean? Any examples?

 

Firstly welcome to the forums! Now too your question...

 

Any mater that is classed as plasma is always a gas that has had one or more of its electrons removed so its ionized.

So, its basically a gass with some of its electrons removed

 

Sometimes things are classed as plasma when super heated but this is not nessisary, tube type light bulbs contain plasms!

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[Sisyphus]

Like RyanJ said, it's basically just ionized gas. Heat or some other energy is applied to the gas, and some atoms lose electrons, meaning there are positively charged atoms and free electrons. When this happens in enough atoms to noticeably affect its properties, it's called plasma. This means that plasma behaves just like gas except for a few differences, like the ability to conduct electricity and to generate magnetic fields. All gases become plasma if you make them hot enough - the sun is plasma, as well as 99% of matter in the universe.

[danny8522003]

There's also a fifth state called Bose-Einstein condensate.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose-Einstein_condensate

[aommaster]

And a sixth one called a Fermionic Condensate

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermionic_condensate

[danny8522003]

Screw it, here's list of them all

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_phases_of_matter

[Sisyphus]

Isn't it odd that black holes aren't on the list? Is it just because their matter is no longer considered to exist?

[YT2095]

Isn't it odd that black holes aren't on the list? Is it just because their matter is no longer considered to exist?

 

No, it`s more than likely because "Black holes" as of yet are unstudied and have even yet to be Proven to exist.

you may as well ask about God-Condensate for the time being

[Sisyphus]

It just seems like strange matter falls under that same description...

[Daecon]

What about the 2 as-yet undiscovered states: myndova matter and itdusent matter.

 

<j/k>

[JonM]

flames from fire are plasma...

 

just so you know

[ecoli]

flames from fire are plasma...

 

just so you know

 

This is false. Fire is heated gas so it gives off a glow, but it is not ionized... unless your talking about an arc weilder.

[NeonBlack]

Why aren't supercritical fluids considered to be a seperate phase of matter?

[JonM]

This is false. Fire is heated gas so it gives off a glow, but it is not ionized... unless your talking about an arc weilder.

 

Oh, well I got that info from wikipedia:

 

"A flame is a self-sustaining oxidizing chemical reaction producing energy and ionized gas (plasma). "

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire#Science_of_fire

 

It could be wrong though, so don't go by it if you know better.

[ecoli]

I've heard people say both...

this site disagree's with you.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021122.html

[CanadaAotS]

wait, is there such thing as anti-neutrons? anti implys a switch in charge, but neutrons don't have a charge...

[Edtharan]

wait, is there such thing as anti-neutrons? anti implys a switch in charge, but neutrons don't have a charge...

Yes. You have to flip the chages on the quarks that make up the neutron.

[[Tycho?]]

I've heard people say both...

this site disagree's with you.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/021122.html

 

Interestingly that site is referenced on the wikipedia article. In the discussion for that page, someone says "As per Plasma (physics), a body of gas can be considered a plasma if any "significant" fraction of the gas molecules are ionized, even if that fraction is very low (1% or less)." Although he doesn't appear to provide a good source for that.

 

The mystery continues.

[Sisyphus]

Perhaps there's just no definite boundary between gas and plasma, and that how it is labelled often depends merely on what properties one is speaking of. It might be something as vague as "if it conducts electricity, it's plasma," despite the fact that it could be a better or worse conductor depending on ionization levels.

[hamman]

thanks guys! especially about the wikipedia article about the 15 !!! states of matter! and here I was, excited about a 4th! super forum here!!!

[SkyQueen737]

Dang this is definitely an outstanding forum. I had no idea how many states there were. I've been browsing the site now for a few hours, and decided I had to join. I'll try not to ask any stupid questions, seeing as yall are well beyond my knowledge but I definitely plan to learn a lot.

[sanjaygeorge]

I heard that ( i have seen) a huge plasma develop when we keep a candle in microwave!!!!!!!!!! what is it??

[engware]

Hi Hamman:

 

What is nice about pressurized plasma is that when expanding across a magnetic field it can generate DC electricity and the expanding plasma gas gets slowed down or be used for the propulsion puropse where the expanding plasma gas gets accelerated ...