Plasma

Many people know of plasma as the fourth state of matter. Plasma is a lot like a gas but plasma is actually made up of negatively and positively charged particles. Because of this, plasma is strongly influenced by electric and magnetic fields. Here on earth, there isn't much natural plasma. However, man made plasma is all around us. Have you ever seen a fluorescent light bulb? A florescent light bulb is a long tube with gas inside of it. When the light is turned on, electricity flows through the tube and charges the gas. The electricity actually converts the gas to a glowing plasma that can be used as light. This same process happens in neon signs. Different gasses display different colors when they are converted to plasma. Now what about natural plasma that isn't commonly found on earth. Did you know that about 99% of the visible universe is plasma. A star is a huge ball of gasses that are at a really high temperature. The high temperature charges the atoms in a star and converts the gasses to plasma. Plasma is a really cool thing that is not as common on earth as the other states of matter. 

Learn more about plasma:

http://www.chem4kids.com/files/matter_plasma.html

http://pluto.space.swri.edu/image/glossary/plasma2.html