[science_guy (OP)]

Back in 8th grade, I was taught about the states of matter.  The solids, the liquids, and the gases.  But the book said that there is a 4th state of matter, plasma.  None of the elements are said to be a plasma and it was never mentioned futher.  Can anybody tell me the definition and examples of when something is a plasma?

E=MC2... m=deg/360 X C... C= PiD

therefore E=deg/360 X 2(PiD)

[another_someone]

Plasma is when matter gets so hot that the electrons separate from the nucleus of the atoms.  It is debatable whether atoms that have become plasma are any longer to be regarded as chemical elements, since the chemistry of atoms depends upon the interaction of the electrons of the atoms, but in plasma those electrons have been stripped away.

Much of the matter in space is plasma of one sort or another.  The Sun is hot enough that it is all plasma, but the solar wind is also plasma.

George