· Plasma is often called “the fourth state of matter,” along with solid, liquid and gas.

· Just as a liquid will boil, changing into a gas when energy is added, heating a gas will form a plasma.

· Plasma is superheated matter – so hot that the electrons are ripped away from the atoms forming an ionized gas.

· It comprises over 99% of the visible universe.

· Plasmas can be used for making computer chips, rocket propulsion, cleaning the environment, destroying biological hazards, healing wounds and other exciting applications.

· Researchers have used the properties of plasma as a charged gas to confine it with magnetic fields and to heat it to temperatures hotter than the core of the sun.