Plasma- the fourth state of matter

Description

GS PAPER III: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

Context: Indian Scientists have recently developed a theory that helps understand the complicated nature of Sun-Earth interaction's happening in the magnetosphere-- an area of space around Earth that is controlled by the Earth’s magnetic field.

This new theory has opened up a plethora of opportunities to unlock the mysteries of the ion-hole structures (a localized plasma region where the ion density is lower than the surrounding plasma).

What is Plasma?

Plasma is superheated matter – so hot that the electrons are ripped away from the atoms forming an ionized gas.
It comprises over 99% of the visible universe.
In the night sky, plasma glows in the form of stars, nebulas, and even the auroras that sometimes ripple above the north and south poles.
That branch of lightning that cracks the sky is plasma and the neon signs along city streets.
Plasma is often called “the fourth state of matter,” along with solid, liquid and gas.
Just as a liquid will boil, changing into a gas when energy is added, heating a gas will form a plasma – a soup of positively charged particles (ions) and negatively charged particles (electrons).

Significance of knowing about plasma:

Because so much of the universe is made of plasma, its behavior and properties are of intense interest to scientists in many disciplines.
Researchers have used the properties of plasma as a charged gas to confine it with magnetic fields and to heat it to temperatures hotter than the core of the sun.
Other researchers pursue plasmas for making computer chips, rocket propulsion, cleaning the environment, destroying biological hazards, healing wounds and other exciting applications.