Physics is a very interesting science. In it, sometimes there are such concepts that we have heard about, but we have no real idea. And today, in the age of development of high technologies, the concept of plasma, or, in other words, ionized gas, is increasingly slipping through. Many, just hearing this word, get scared, and do not even try to find out what it means. But everything is very simple, and in this article we will tell you what an ionized gas is and what properties it has.
Before giving you detailed and comprehensive information, we will conduct a brief excursion into history.
History
Plasma, or the fourth state of aggregation of matter, was discovered in 1879 by William Crookes during experiments with a voltaic arc. Subsequently, a whole science was created, called plasma physics. Where did the whole science come from and why is it needed? The fact is that the study of plasma has found enormous application in various fields of science and technology. But we will talk about this a little later. And now a little about the essence of the concept of "ionized gas."
What is plasma?
This word came to Russian from Greek. It means decorated, made. And these are not empty words. As you know, ordinary gas takes the form of the vessel where it is located (just like water). That is why it is chaotic and does not have a clear form. However, plasma is completely different. No wonder it is called the fourth state of aggregation of matter. It is fundamentally different from all other states with its special properties. The fact is that all the atoms that make up the plasma have a positive or negative charge.
Before we talk about how to obtain plasma and where it is used, we will analyze aspects of the theory of plasma physics, because it will be very useful to us for the further narration.
Plasma theory
In a school chemistry course, a lot of time is devoted to the solutions and particles that are in them. These charged particles have unique properties and determine many of the physical and chemical characteristics of various dissolved-solvent systems. However, ions (charged particles in solution) exist not only in the aquatic environment.
As it turned out, the gas can also be ionized and form atoms with a positive or negative charge. This can happen in the process of knocking an electron out of an atom by external forces. The emitted electron can also crash into some other atom and “knock out” another electron. But the opposite situation may occur: an electron can fly into an ion and again form a neutral atom. And all these processes constantly occur in plasma. It is quite unstable in the absence of outside forces supporting it.
Plasma is obtained mainly in a very simple way, accessible to each of us at home: by passing gas through a high-voltage electric arc. The higher the temperature of the arc, the more heated the plasma we get at the exit. The higher the voltage at its contacts, the more ionized gas is obtained after.
Plasma can also be divided into several types. About what happens plasma (ionized gas), you will learn from the next section.
Types of plasma
By origin, ionized gas can be divided into artificial and natural. Everything is clear with the first view, a person easily creates a plasma and uses it for his own purposes (for example, neon lamps, lasers, controlled thermonuclear fusion). And what kind of plasma happens in nature? Its most famous manifestation is lightning.
The ionized gas can also include a phenomenon such as the Northern Lights, which not all people on Earth have the good fortune to observe. Also, the solar wind that exists in outer space is the fourth state of matter. If we consider the plasma in a broader sense, it turns out that the whole of outer space belongs to it.
Plasma can also be divided according to its temperature. As you know, the hotter the gas, the more active the movement of molecules in it and the higher its energy. Since plasma is also a gas, these statements are true for it. Thus, starting from what the temperature of the ionized gas is, it is divided into hot (temperature million K and higher) and cold (respectively, temperature less than one million K) .
There is another indicator - the degree of ionization. It shows what percentage of atoms in the plasma decayed into ions. According to this indicator, high-ionized gas and low-ionized are distinguished. It is also included in one of the generally accepted classifications.
Conclusion
Plasma is not such a difficult thing to understand. Difficulties begin with a deeper study of it. But after all, you can consider any thing. We did not specifically touch mathematical calculations in order to explain the essence of this concept in as much detail as possible. Physics is a very interesting science, and it is necessary to study it, if only because it surrounds us in everything and everywhere. And our article is called to prove this, because plasma is everywhere around us, just sometimes we don’t understand the deep essence of the phenomena associated with it.