Plasma: quesako?

Designing
Pascal Lauque, Senior Lecturer, Institut matériaux microélectronique nanosciences de Provence (Im2np)
Alexandre Escarguel, Senior Lecturer, Laboratory of Physics of Ionic and Molecular Interactions (PIIM)

Reception of classes from the 4th grade onwards

Plasma is often presented as the fourth state of matter, following solid, liquid and gaseous states. More than 98% of the universe is made up of them. In laboratories, in industry, but also in everyday life, plasmas created by electric discharge in a gas are commonly used. Despite this, plasma is not very familiar to us.

This workshop presents some examples of plasmas and their effects using simple experiments. Among other things, we'll talk:

• of thermal plasma created by electric arc,
• of the cold plasma and the light emission of the plasma, with lighting as the application,
• of the crown discharge and the electric wind, as well as the principle of ion propulsion,
• sound reproduction with plasma speakers.

Register for the workshop