the fourth state of matter an introduction to plasma science - eliezer

[...]... into the liquid and eventually the solid states This is the reverse of the sequence of events which will be discussed in Chapter 2 on generating plasma as the fourth state of matter At the beginning of civilization, man was familiar with earth and rocks, water and rain Naturally, therefore, he identified the solid and the liquid states of matter Thus we refer today to the solid and the liquid as the. .. encircling the circumference of the stadium The strange fact is that the grain is thousands of times more massive than the athletic runners All the atoms of an element have the same number of protons in their nucleus and the same number of electrons in the atom’s surrounding cloud, but they may have different numbers of neutrons Isotope is the name given to two or more atoms with the same atomic number (protons... protons The number of electrons in the atom must be the same as the number of protons The total negative electric charge carried by the electrons must balance the total positive charge carried by the protons if the atom is to be electrically neutral A hydrogen atom is made up of one proton and one electron Since the electron is very light, the mass of the proton is almost the same as that of the hydrogen... Chapter 3.) The matter which composed the Universe was so hot that everything was in the form of plasma Thus, in the very beginning, plasma was the first state of matter The fragments of this explosion became the stars of our Universe, including our own Sun During the expansion of our Universe, the matter cooled down and thus some of the plasma changed into gas, which further cooled down and became transformed... the plasma state However, the planet Earth and all the other planets and their moons are not in a state of plasma As more than 99% of the Universe is composed of plasma, it is vital to understand plasma physics in order to learn about the Universe and our surroundings Plasma physics is strongly related to applied sciences In particular, international communications, energy power generators, and the. .. attached to the cathode of the battery The rays which began at the cathode ended at the anode These rays were called ‘cathode rays’ and were believed to be the electric current The particles in these rays were later proved to be the negatively charged electrons as they were moving from the cathode to the anode (from the minus to the plus) In these experiments the scientists found that the current in the. .. why the atomic weights are not integers: (a) the neutron is slightly heavier than the proton; (b) the weight of a nucleus is less than the sum of its protons and neutrons (this difference is due to the ‘binding energy’ which will be discussed in Chapter 3); and (c) the atomic weight is the average weight of the different natural isotopes of an element 1.5 Unveiling a New State of Matter To summarize the. .. highlights of this chapter, we can say that the understanding of matter, the development of electricity, and the unveiling of the structure of the atom have led to the discovery of a new state of matter It is more than 100 years since Crookes experimented with electrical discharges in vacuum tubes and suggested the existence of a new kind of gas: a gas composed of charged particles, such as a mixture of an. .. atom The study of alpha, beta and gamma radiation had shown that atoms of uranium, thorium and other elements can radiate smaller particles than the atom The alpha particle, for example, is about a hundred thousand times smaller than one atom For many years it was thought that, like the hydrogen atom, all atoms were made up of only two elementary particles, the proton and the electron The mass of the. .. begun and the atmosphere is cold As the music begins and the pairs perform their first dance, a slow, we enter into our second phase the liquid; the temperature is low as they dance to the soft music The music picks up tempo The dancers are doing the rock and roll and we enter the third phase the gas; the temperature is getting warmer Now the music blares as the pop tunes begin The girls leave their . second edition of The Fourth State of Matter. The aim of the second edition is to bring The Fourth State of Matter up to date in the light of progress. Sometimes. he identified the solid and the liquid states of matter. Thus we refer today to the solid and the liquid as the first and second phases of matter. A few