LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Plasma
built 265 days ago
Plasma is the so-called fourth state of matter, right after solids, liquids, and gases. Basically, if you heat up a gas enough (or apply enough of any energy, for that matter) you can get it to turn to plasma. The extra energy blasts negatively-charged electrons off of the atoms that make up the gas, and divides the gas into positively charged ions and loose electrons. Plasma generally radiates a lot of visible light and heat. The electrons continue to be attracted to the ions, and tend to reattach themselves as soon as the energy or heat diminishes, so plasma is inherently unstable and doesn't last very long on Earth.
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Plasma was the fourth form of matter, which was created by ionizing gases at high temperatures. Plasma was naturally produced in stars. Plasma... can be found in other places in the galaxy. The planet Naboo was known to export plasma as early as the reign of King Veruna.
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Plasma enhanced combustion has recently attracted much attention because of its potential to decrease ignition delay times by producing key radicals and excited species. Unfortunately the mechanisms of plasma enhancement for a combustion system are not fully understood because of the complex and highly coupled interaction. This presentation will discuss the current work on kinetic ignition enhancement of hydrogen-air diffusion flames by a non-equilibrium plasma discharge of ultra-lean pre-mixtures. The development of a simplified and well defined counter flow burner integrated with a plasma system was studied experimentally. Measurement and comparison of the ignition temperatures provided a basis for understanding the kinetic enhancement pathways for ignition by plasma discharge of air with and without plasma activation and small concentrations of hydrogen and methane addition to the air. With plasma discharge of the air, the ignition temperatures were significantly decreased when compared to only heated air.
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Plasma consists of a collection of free-moving electrons and ions - atoms that have lost electrons. Energy is needed to strip electrons from atoms to make plasma. The energy can be of various origins: thermal, electrical, or light (ultraviolet light or intense visible light from a laser). With insufficient sustaining power, plasmas recombine into neutral gas.
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Plasma technology has been commercialized for a number of years. Plasma guns are used extensively to coat surfaces with thin films of other materials. When you're trying to coat something that has a low melting point, like metals, with something that has a high melting point, like ceramics, then plasma guns are the way to go. They're used in the construction of all aircraft engines. Large volumes of gas are blasted through an electric arc, or zapped by radio waves or even microwaves. This energizes the gas to a plasma state. Temperatures of 6,600 C to 16,600 C can be reached, which exceeds the surface temperature of the sun.
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Plasma temperature is commonly measured in kelvins or electronvolts, and is an informal measure of the thermal kinetic energy per particle. In most cases the electrons are close enough to thermal equilibrium that their temperature is relatively well-defined, even when there is a significant deviation from a Maxwellian energy distribution function, for example due to UV radiation, energetic particles, or strong electric fields. Because of the large difference in mass, the electrons come to thermodynamic equilibrium among themselves much faster than they come into equilibrium with the ions or neutral atoms. For this reason the "ion temperature" may be very different from (usually lower than) the "electron temperature". This is especially common in weakly ionized technological plasmas, where the ions are often near the ambient temperature.
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