Plasma: the negatively charged electrons (yellow) are freely
streaming through the positively charged ions (blue).
The Plasma State
Plasma is known as the fourth state of matter. The other three states are solid, liquid and gas.
Almost everything is made up of atoms (your dog, your science book, this computer...). The atom has a nucleus which has a positive charge. Electrons orbit the nucleus. The electrons (which have a negative charge) are attracted to the nucleus. Remember, opposites attract! But sometimes something comes along that sets the electrons free from orbiting the nucleus. Really hot temperatures can do this! When electrons are no longer trapped in orbits around the nucleus, we have the plasma state.
Most of the matter in the universe is found in the plasma state. That is because stars contain so much of the matter in the universe (stars are so hot that their matter can only exist in the plasma state).
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