RE: Plasma

• To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
• Subject: RE: Plasma
• From: "Sarah Thompson" <sarah-at-telergy-dot-com> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)
• Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2000 07:21:42 -0700
• Approved: twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net
• Delivered-To: fixup-tesla-at-pupman-dot-com-at-fixme

> What is the temp of the plasma in the spark gap? In the discharge?

Very hot, thousands of centigrade is not unusual.

> Fire/plasma conducts, why?

A plasma is a gas that has had more energy pumped into it than will allow
electrons to stay with their original nuclei. The characteristic glow is
caused because photons are emitted whenever electrons jump up or down in
energy levels. Ordinary gases don't conduct significantly, because few if
any free electrons can move around - they are all bound to nuclei. Plasmas
do conduct precisely because there *are* lots of free electrons.

Apologies to any trained physicists out there - I know this is a serious
oversimplification.

Sarah

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