Plasma: The Star Stuff

The Fourth State

You learned about three states of matter in elementary school:

Solid → Liquid → Gas

But there's a fourth: Plasma

Heat gas hot enough (~10,000 K), and electrons rip free from atoms. You get a soup of ions (positive) and free electrons (negative).

Mind-blowing fact: 99% of the visible universe is plasma—stars, nebulae, the space between stars.

We live in the rare 1% that isn't plasma.