Plasma: Difference between revisions

In physics and chemistry, '''Plasma''' describes any substance where there is an ionic charge separation, a plasma can be either a solid or a gas, or more rarely, a liquid. Plasmas shows a marked difference in electrical and thermal conductivity compared to non-plasmas. Metals are an example of solid plasmas, they are plasmas, because there exists delocalized charge carying electrons. It is this property of metals that allows them to be good electrical and thermal conductors. Table salt is also an example of a solid plasma, as it is an ionic solid, there exists a lattice of charge carying ions although not delocalized. In order to replicate the properties of metals, table salt has to be molten for the charges to be free to move. An example of a gas plasma is a fire, as a fire is a highly energetic chemical reaction, there is a large amount of transitional ionization occuring. Liquid and gas plasmas, with the exception of metals, are highly responsive to electromagnetic fields due to the mbilization of charge cariers (electrons, cations, anions). Generaly, plasmas behave very much like their respective states of matter, except for the supplementary behaviour associated with plasmas. The type of plasma most often encounted in the Haloverse, is gas plasma with an exceptional high mass fraction of charge cariers. The closer the fraction is to unity, the more pronouced is the plasmic behaviour and responses to electromagnetic fields.