Common Plasmas
Further information: Astrophysical plasma, Interstellar medium, and Intergalactic spacePlasmas are by far the most common phase of ordinary matter in the universe, both by mass and by volume. Our Sun, and all the stars are made of plasma, much of interstellar space is filled with a plasma, albeit a very sparse one, and intergalactic space too. In our solar system, interplanetary space is filled with the plasma of the Solar Wind that extends from the Sun out to the heliopause. Even black holes, which are not directly visible, are fuelled by accreting ionising matter (i.e. plasma), and they are associated with astrophysical jets of luminous ejected plasma, such as M87's jet that extends 5,000 light-years.
Dust and small grains within a plasma will also pick up a net negative charge, so that they in turn may act like a very heavy negative ion component of the plasma (see dusty plasmas).
The current consensus is that about 96% of the total energy density in the universe is not plasma or any other form of ordinary matter, but a combination of cold dark matter and dark energy. In our Solar System, however, the density of ordinary matter is much higher than average and much higher than that of either dark matter or dark energy. The planet Jupiter accounts for most of the non-plasma, only about 0.1% of the mass and 10−15% of the volume within the orbit of Pluto.
Artificially produced | Terrestrial plasmas | Space and astrophysical plasmas |
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Read more about this topic: Plasma (physics)
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