an ice cube
a round glass
water
an ice cube tray
a neon indicator lamp (Ne-2 bulb from Radio Shack) About 69 cents.
a balloon
Most people are familiar with three states of matter: solid, liquid and
gas. Things like rocks, wood and ice are solid. They stay the same size
and shape, not matter what container we put them in. Place an ice cube
into a round glass. It stays the same size and shape. It is solid..
Things such as alcohol, oil, and water are liquids. They stay the same
size,
but they change their shape to fit their container. Fill one of the
holes in
an ice cube tray with water. You now have a cube of water. Pour this
into
the round glass. The water stays the same size, but changes its shape
to fit
the glass. Water is liquid.
The most common gas, the air, is actually a mixture of several gases.
Gases change their shape to fit their container, just as liquids do.
They also change their size to fill their container. Can you imagine a
container with a puddle of air in the bottom and the rest of it a
vacuum? No, the air would expand to fill the container, at a lower
pressure. Air is gas.
The fourth state of matter is called plasma. Do not confuse this plasma
with the plasma in blood. That is something completely different.
Plasma as a state of matter is similar to a gas. It changes it's size
and shape to fit a container. The difference is that in a plasma, each
of the atoms has lost one or more electrons. These free electrons are
moving around between the atoms. For this reason, plasmas are good
conductors of electricity. Plasma also gives off light, which make it
easy to see.
To see some plasma, we will repeat a past experiment. The neon
indicator bulb looks like a small light bulb until you look closely.
There is not a filament or wire that lights up. Instead, the bulb is
filled with neon gas at low pressure. All that we need to change this
gas into plasma is some static electricity, which we can produce with a
balloon. First, you will need a dark room. The darker it is, the easier
it will be to see the plasma. Hold one of the wire from the neon bulb.
Rub the balloon on your hair or a piece of cloth. This will build up a
static charge on the balloon. Bring the balloon near the other wire of
the neon bulb and you will see an orange flash in the bulb. This is
neon plasma.
Some common examples of plasma are neon lights, fluorescent lights,
lightning and other sparks. Plasma is found in flames. It is also what
stars are made up of. When you consider that, you realize that most of
the matter in the universe is made up of plasma. In spite of the fact
that most science books ignore plasma until you get to the college
level, it is the fourth state of matter and by far the most common
state in the universe.
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to Krampf Index Including permission to post
these
experiments on my web site.
