Plasma

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Plasma

Matter consists of atoms held together by electromagnetic forces. How tight
these bonds are, determines which of the four states: solid, liquid, gas and
plasma, matter exists as. Plasma is only found naturally in the corona and cores
of stars and in bolts of lightning. There are three classic states of matter:
solid, liquid, and gas; however, plasma is considered by some scientists to be
the fourth state of matter. The plasma state is not related to blood plasma, the
most common usage of the word; rather, the term has been used in physics since
around the 1920s to represent an ionized gas. Space plasma physics became an
important scientific discipline in the early 1950s with the discovery of the Van
Allen radiation belts. Lightning is commonly seen as a form of plasma. Matter
changes its state as it is exposed to different physical conditions. Ice is a
solid with hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O) molecules arranged in regular patterns,
but if the ice melts, the H2O enters a new state: liquid water. As the water
molecules are warmed, they separate further to form steam, which is a gas. In
these classic states, the positive charge of each atomic nucleus equals the
total charge of all the electrons orbiting around it so that the net charge is
zero. Each entire atom is electrically neutral. When more heat is applied, the
steam may be ionized: an electron will gain enough energy to escape its atom.
This atom is left one electron short and now has a net positive charge; called
an ion. In a sufficiently heated gas, ionization happens many times, creating
clouds of free electrons and ions; however, not all the atoms are necessarily
ionized, and some may remain completely intact with n...

The complete article is about 528 words and 2.11 pages long.

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