Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: taregg on 28/04/2014 21:45:56
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like a electric wire ......when current move pass throu electric wire many electrons separate free from there ions...does this called plasma
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Generally, the word plasma is reserved for an ionized gas. In this case the electrons are not bound to anything. While the conduction electrons in a metal are not bound to a single atom, they are still bound to the bulk solid.
Really, this is an accident of language. Plasma could have been defined broader than it is. Understanding the behavior of an ionized gas provides little insight into the behavior of a solid conductor, so the narrower defintion is probably going to endure.
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Your question is like asking if steam can exist as ice.
A plasma and a solid of the same element only differ in the kinetic energy of the system
In a solid the particles lack the energy to exist as an ionized gas (i.e., a plasma}
Whenever I stoke up my Tokamak, I first load it up with metallic hydrogen from the fridge and then pay a kid to shovel lots and lot's of coal into the firebox.
It is quite tedious.
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I agree that the answer is strictly no if you want all the characteristics of a gaseous plasma but conductors and semiconductors with mobile electrons and holes can exhibit some of the characteristics of a plasma.
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Is this all considering plasma on Earth at normal atmospheric pressure?
Stars are supposed to be mostly plasma, and could potentially have much different characteristics than what we observe here on Earth.
What about very dense neutron stars?
I've blown out a number of distributor caps in the past. When they fail, one sees a "lightening bolt" (carbon track) etched into the cap. It probably is a portion of the cap that has turned to graphite. Not plasma, but very conductive nonetheless.