Characteristics of...?

Question

What are the characteristics of Plasma (state of Matter)

Answer 1

Although a plasma is loosely described as an electrically neutral medium of positive and negative particles, a more rigorous definition requires three criteria to be satisfied:

>The plasma approximation: Charged particles must be close enough together such that each particle influences many nearby charged particles, rather than just interacting with the closest particle (these collective effects are a distinguishing feature of a plasma). The plasma approximation is valid when the number of electrons within the sphere of influence (called the Debye sphere whose radius is the Debye (screening) length) of a particular particle is large. The average number of particles in the Debye sphere is given by the plasma parameter, Λ.
>Bulk interactions: The Debye screening length (defined above) is short compared to the physical size of the plasma. This criterion means that interactions in the bulk of the plasma are more important than those at its edges, where boundary effects may take place.
>Plasma frequency: The electron plasma frequency (measuring plasma oscillations of the electrons) is large compared to the electron-neutral collision frequency (measuring frequency of collisions between electrons and neutral particles). When this condition is valid, plasmas act to shield charges very rapidly (quasineutrality is another defining property of plasmas).

Answer 2

I assume you mean PLASMA as in molecular biology. ionized gas mixture, consisting of ions, electrons, and neutral atoms, is called plasma. A plasma must have sufficient numbers of charged particles so that the gas, as a whole, exhibits a collective response to electric and magnetic fields. Plasma density, therefore, refers to the density of the charged particles
see http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/academy/universe/fourth_matter.html
and http://www.2spi.com/videos/OPCBasicOperation.html

take an electron microscopy class it is WAY cool. I took mine at UIC Chicago. I learned how totake and develope my own photos as well as TEM and SEM elecron microscopy - from start to finish!!! ever see a fruit fly's eye?