Abstract
A plasma is a gas of charged particles under conditions where collective electromagnetic interactions dominate over interactions between individual particles. Plasmas have been called the fourth state of matter [1]. As one adds heat to a solid, it undergoes a phase transition (melting) to become a liquid. More heat causes the liquid to boil into a gas. Adding still more energy causes the gas to ionize (i.e. some of the negative electrons become dissociated from their gas atoms, leaving positively charged ions). Above 100,000 °K, most matter ionizes into a plasma. While the earth is a relatively plasma-free bubble (aside from fluorescent lights, lightning discharges, and magnetic fusion energy experiments) 99.9% of the universe is in the plasma state (e.g. stars and most of interstellar space).
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Weinstein, A. (1984). Equations of Plasma Physics. In: Chern, S.S. (eds) Seminar on Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations. Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Publications, vol 2. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1110-5_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-1110-5_18
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