🚀 go-pugleaf

While watching my campfire as it burned down to coals, I got to
wondering about plasma.

1.) Do campfire coals get hot enough that the "gas" coming off
of them is really a plasma, or is it still just a gas?

2.) Is a flame a plasma?

3.) Is there some hidden heat associated with the state
transition between a gas and a plasma like there is between the
other states?

4.) Is plasma somehow associated with ionization?

5.) I have played with one of those little Radio Shack plasma
ball toys, but am still pretty hazy about what it's doing.  It
also doesn't seem to get at all hot, so is plasma always
associated with high temperature?  If so, is there just too
little stuff in the plasma ball toy for high temperature to give
off much heat?

6.) Does a working florescent light contain a plasma?  Do
plasmas generally floresce (my campfire coals kind of looked
like they did, all red and bluish with no visible smoke)?

7.) Just what IS plasma, anyway? I remember from physics class
many (MANY!) years ago that plasma is supposed to be the fourth
state of matter, and have the vague general idea that it's
supposed to be a sort of superhot gas, but just what makes it a
whole different state?

Just curious...

Linda Slovick                                 slovick@apple.com