Plasma Ball Experiments
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What you need:
- Plasma Ball (available at toy stores and online)
- Fluorescent Light Tube
- Wooden chair or stool to stand on (or anything not metal)
- Turn off the lights so that you can see the plasma ball glowing.
- Put your hand on the plasma ball. What happens?
- Now bring the fluorescent light tube close to the plasma ball. What happens?
- This step requires a friend, so have one close by and ready to help. Stand on the chair or stool and put your hand on the ball. Now have your friend hand you the light tube. Do you see it light up? What happens if your friend lets go? Be careful to not touch the ends of the light tube – it gets hot!
- Put a penny on the top of the plasma ball. Carefully touch the penny with another penny. Don’t use your finger – you’ll get a shock!
What’s going on?
The plasma ball is a miniature Tesla coil. Inside the ball is a coil of wires that have electrons going through them oscillating at a very high frequency. This shakes the atoms around the wires so hard that their electrons start to fall off! Inside the glass globe is a partial vacuum. This just means that some of the air has been sucked out. Because there is not as much air in there, it is easier to make electric sparks that can be seen.
The electrons then travel out into the air from the glass ball. We know this because the plasma ball lights up the light bulb. If you touch the plasma ball, all of the electrons will go through you to the ground. You see only one big spark inside the ball where you put your hand. If you stand on a stool, you are insulated from the ground and get filled with electrons. This means you can light up a fluorescent light bulb!
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Top 10 demonstrations with the plasma globe.
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Top 10 demonstrations with the plasma globe .
The plasma ball is an engaging and safe tool for studying high voltages and the electric field and can be used in middle school, high school, and college level physics courses. A very large voltage is created by a Tesla coil-like circuit and this creates a high electric field between the central electrode and the inner glass. The Field is strong enough to ionize the gases in the ball (it pulls their electrons off) and the freed electrons undergo collisions which liberate more electrons from other gas molecules. This process is known as cascade/avalanche or impact ionization. On first inspection, you will notice that the plasma ball responds to your touch. This is due to the polarization of your body (a decent conductor). As you approach the plasma ball you become polarized by the electric field and this attracts more charge to you. 1. Demonstrate plasma Most physical science classes require that students have a cursory understanding of plasma as the "fourth state of matter." This title is misleading because plasma is the most common state of matter in the universe and plasma was in fact the first state to exist after the big bang. Plasma is a gas-like collection of atoms that have a large number of free electric charges. This means that newly created plasma has undergone ionization (the phase transition that is after melting and boiling). When the freed electrons are regained by ionized atoms the bonding energy is often released as visible light; therefore glowing is a signature of most plasma. Like a gas, plasma has no fixed volume and like other fluids it does not have a fixed shape. Moving plasmas can usually be controlled by magnetic fields, but this will not be visible on the plasma of a plasma ball. In order to witness deflections of plasma, he charges must move for long enough times. A plasma ball operates on a high-frequency alternating voltage, and for this reason, the charges do not have much time to move in demonstrably measurable distances and get deflected. Plasma is also an excellent conductor so, once one filament forms, it becomes generally stable allowing for more current to flow through it (similar to a lightning strike). This is more obvious when you bring a finger to the plasma ball. It is important to remember that plasma is very hot and it will slowly conduct heat through the glass. 2. Touch lightning The very high voltages of the plasma ball can easily polarize a coin (or piece of aluminum foil) placed on top of the plasma ball. By bringing your finger only a few millimeters above the penny, you will be able to elicit a spark from the top of the coin. This spark will not cause pain, or electric shock, but will be hot and if you hold your finger their long enough it might begin to hurt. The tip of the finger will now show a few harmless burn marks that will rub off in a day. Let the students touch lightning too and use this sparking technique to explain how lightning forms due to the Electric Field ionizing the air. You can also have fun burning small pieces of paper with the spark. If you are too shy to touch the spark with your hand, you can touch a metal key (or any conductor) to the coin and the spark will still form while providing additional insulation. You should avoid touching the spark with your fingernail. Fingernails conduct electricity better than the skin and underneath it is a tissue that is dense lined with pain nerves. 3. Demonstrate convection The plasma threads are very hot and they will rise due to their buoyancy in the other gases inside the plasma ball. For this reason, it is difficult to get a horizontal streamer to remain unbroken for more than a second – not unlike a Jacob's Ladder. However, a vertical streamer at the top will be stabilized by the buoyancy. With practice, you should be able to get just a single vertical thread. Once again, be cautious because the glass will heat up. 4. Investigate the oscillating electric field The Electric Field created by the Tesla coil reaches beyond the glass dome and into the air surrounding the plasma ball. This Electric Field can easily be investigated with a small neon bulb or light emitting diode (LED). Bring either of these near the plasma ball and they will light up when aligned radially, but not circumferentially. This demonstrates that the voltages are decreasing with radial distance or (equivalently) that the Electric Field is radial. You will also notice no directional dependence of the diode because the field is oscillating rapidly. The circuit is providing a high-frequency alternating voltage which is necessary to "step up" the voltage to the levels needed to operate the plasma globe. Study the voltage directly by simply connecting a probe to one of the channels on an oscilloscope and you can probe the changing voltage spatially. Some experiments include determining how rapidly the voltage decreases with radial distance or whether the voltage differences are established radially or circumferentially (the answer is the former).
The LED bulb glows brighter as it approaches the plasma globe
For fun or if you don't own an oscilloscope, you can also use an audio cable as a probe and listen to the frequencies on an amplifier. These will sound louder up close and quieter far away or when probed circumferentially (along an equipotential line). The human body can serve as an excellent antenna for picking up the signal so be sure to touch the tip of the cable. One last technique is to investigate the voltage differences directly by using a digital voltmeter set to read AC. Through this investigation, one can most easily verify the distance dependence of voltage as it decreases with radial distance. 5. Illuminate a fluorescent lamp This demonstration is normally done with a Van de Graaff generator but often results in you getting mild shocks. However, there is no pain or danger if you simply use the plasma ball! Borrow a long fluorescent tube from your overhead lights, or buy one from the hardware store and bring it near the plasma ball. You will notice that once a part of the mercury gas in the tube gets glowing that it can stay glowing even as you extend it. There is essentially no limit to how far you can pull the tube. It also works on the household small tubes. Emphasize that the fluorescent tube holds ionized mercury (plasma) and that plasma is a conductor (because of the free charges) and for this reason, the tube's light can be drawn with no apparent increase in resistance (no decrease in brightness). Also, note that the starting point of the tube must be close to the plasma ball where the Electric Field is largest (the voltage is changing the most rapidly). This can be demonstrated by moving the tube closer then further radially to the globe. At certain distances, the tube will not glow. There is a minimum Electric Field required to ionize the mercury gas and if the field is not strong enough the tube will not light. Explain also how the fluorescent light is produced: the low pressure, ionized mercury gas releases mostly UV and violet light when it regains its electrons. This light falls on the fluorescent paint that coats the inside of the tube. The paint then glows white. The UV light is blocked by glass, so harmful UV light does not escape the glass tubes. Thus, the process does not work in reverse: if you shine UV light on the tube from the outside the paint won't fluoresce. 6. Create a human short-circuit While you have the fluorescent tubes out, demonstrate that the Electric Field can be diverted to a grounded, shorter circuit if a lab-partner grabs part of the tube. This will reinforce the idea of lightning and currents (perhaps later on) taking the path of least resistance. It will also awaken students to the reality that their bodies are paths through which electricity can flow. (A valuable lesson in electrical safety!)
Touching the fluorescent tube diverts the current.
7. Analyze the spectrum of the gases within globe When it comes to analyzing the spectrum of the gases in your plasma ball, a good place to start is to analyze the point where your finger touches. Looking straight at the plasma globe, place a finger as far to one side as possible. This should create what looks like a vertical (pink?) stripe. Analyze this with your diffraction grating and compare the spectrum to known inert (noble) gases. Since there is often more than one gas, this can be difficult but is worth the effort. To analyze the (bluish white) streamer filaments, it is helpful to create the vertical streamer from experiment #3. This vertical column will be ideal for analyzing its spectrum. It is best to have a partner supply a free hand and beware once again of the plasma heating up the glass. This may also be a good time to break out the digital spectrometer or other spectrum-analyzing equipment to get specific wavelengths measured. Different plasma globes use different gases and in different amounts, but they are almost always noble gases. 8. Hold ionized gases in the palm of your hand Ionizing gases and observing their spectra is normally associated with dangerous, high-voltage equipment that only instructors can handle. But now you can put ionized neon tubes in the hands of eager students because your plasma ball ionizes them safely. No longer is a black box needed to confuse students as to what is happening. The plasma ball's strong Electric Field rips the electrons off their atoms and unique colors are produced as electrons are reacquired by the various orbitals. Teaching about the emission spectrum of ionized gases can now become a hands-on activity.
Neon gas spectrum tube near the plasma globe
9. Power up your cathode ray tube
A plasma ball provides a safe source of high-voltage that can allow you to investigate the properties of cathode rays safely. A typical concern with doing cathode ray tube experiments is that you have to connect your CRT to a dangerous high-voltage source. Teacher and student alike can now safely and easily demonstrate the magnetic deflection of electrons and relive the discoveries of J.J. Thomson thanks to their marvelous plasma globe.
10. Demonstrate an absorption spectrum
A plasma globe provides a rare chance for you to demonstrate that light is absorbed by ionized gases. Send a beam of collimated, white light into the plasma housing and you will be able to observe the absorption spectrum. Collimated light is produced by sending a bright beam through two holes on either side of a box; this guarantees that the light that emerges is a narrow column. Note that projectors that mix RGB will not suffice as a white light source – the light has to be a full rainbow. The best source is a bright incandescent flashlight or an overhead projector. Focus the beam so it passes through the plasma, then separate it with a diffraction grating or prism and project the rainbow on a screen or wall. When the plasma globe is off, the white light will split into a full rainbow. When the globe is on, some of the colors will be missing as thin bands. Most notably will be the yellow and reds observed in the emission spectrum from earlier. This will verify that emission and absorption spectra have the same wavelengths.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the plasma globe is an under-utilized and relatively familiar piece of lab equipment. I strongly recommend that every physics teacher include one in his or her laboratory and use them to make electrostatics as hands-on as possible.
James Lincoln Tarbut V' Torah High School Irvine, CA, USA
James Lincoln teaches Physics in Southern California and has won several science video contests and worked on various projects in the past few years. James has consulted on TV's "The Big Bang Theory" and WebTV's "This vs. That" and the UCLA Physics Video Project.
Contact: [email protected]
April 03, 2013 Collin Wassilak
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Welcome to the Interactive Plasma Physics Experience!
Explore the exciting world of fusion science through our fun educational resources. Journey inside a plasma-confining tokamak, control plasma experiments online or use our physics modules!
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Visit the sections below to explore different aspects of plasma physics and magnetically confined fusion.
What is Fusion
Watch a Phd Comics animated video on magnetic confinement fusion.
Virtual Tokamak
Control a virtual tokamak and, in the process, learn about creating electricity using magnetic confinement fusion.
Remote Experiments
Remotely log into plasma experiments located at PPPL and control them through your browser.
Ask a Plasma Physicist
Have a burning question about plasma, fusion or PPPL? Ask us anything and we'll get back to you!
The animated video below, produced by PhD Comics, introduces the concept of plasma and magnetically confineed fusion. It also provides a tour of the NSTXU device housed at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.
The Virtual Tokamak is based on real plasma physics equations.
Remote Glow Discharge Experiment
Control a Plasma and observe it from your browser. You can even do an actual quantitative plasma experiment.
Remote Planeterrella Experiment
Model astrophysical phenomena like the auroras, magnetospheres or planetary ring currents and control and observe them from your home.
Have questions about plasmas, fusion and/or PPPL? Ask it here and we'll get back to you soon!
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics Research
Experimental Plasma Physics
In this research area, we use a variety of experimental facilities to explore the confinement and heating of plasmas, primarily in support of the quest for fusion energy. A variety of large experimental programs offer a unique balance between working with a large team of scientists and technicians and direct hands-on student experiences that make our graduates well prepared for careers at the world’s largest fusion research facilities. Individual experimental campaigns seek to develop new methods for plasma startup and heating, new diagnostics for measuring plasma characteristics during operation, and new understanding of how plasma interacts with the solid surfaces at the interface with the device.
- Stephanie Diem
- Benedikt Geiger
- Oliver Schmitz
- Cary Forest (Affiliate faculty member)
Centers, consortia and institutes
- Pegasus-III Fusion Energy Experiment
- Helically Symmetric eXperiment (HSX)
On-campus fusion experiments
To reach fusion conditions, the high-temperature plasma is confined within a vacuum chamber by strong magnetic fields. Exploring the optimization of various configurations to accomplish this magnetic confinement is a key aspect of fusion energy-related research. The department houses a unique magnetic confinement fusion experiment, the Pegasus-III spherical tokamak under the supervision of Professor Diem . This device is being upgraded to become a center for studies of non-inductive current drive in tokamaks on the national scale, with related work in radio-frequency heating and diagnostics development to support the understanding of this experiment.
In addition, the NEEP department operates the Helically Symmetric eXperiment(HSX) . This medium size stellarator uses 3D shaped magnetic field coils to confine plasmas with temperatures greater than 10 Million Kelvin and is the first ever built quasi-symmetric fusion device. HSX has demonstrated excellent confinement properties and pioneered research towards stellarator fusion power plants. The experiment is led by Professor Geiger and current research directions are studies of plasma turbulence, the generation of flows, diagnostic developments and divertor operation.
There are two other major magnetic fusion experiments on the UW-Madison campus. They are the Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror (WHAM) and MST , a reversed-field pinch device, in the Department of Physics . All of these facilities create a strong, collaborative research environment for faculty, staff and students from multiple departments across campus.
To realize sustained confinement, materials have to be developed that withstand the conditions in this harsh environment. The MARIA linear helicon plasma is used to study plasma material interactions and fundamental atomic processes in the plasma surface interaction domain. This experiment is supervised by Professor Schmitz .
Off-campus experimental programs
As fusion science progresses, large-scale facilities are addressing the high-performance regime. NEEP faculty in fusion energy science are participating in several large-scale facilities around the world, among them the ITER tokamak in Cadarache, France, the W7-X stellarator in Greifswald, Germany, well as the two U.S. national user facilities DIII-D and NSTX-U. The research group led by Professor Geiger, Professor Emeritus Fonck , and senior scientist McKee studies ion-heat and impurity transport, as well as turbulent fluctuations based on beam emission spectroscopy (BES). The collaborative research at the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in Greifswald, Germany, is additionally coupled to an on-campus stellarator program by means of the HILOADS international laboratory of the German Helmholtz Association . Professor Schmitz ‘s group investigates the plasma edge and plasma material interaction in stellarator geometries with a focus on W7-X.
Plasma science
The plasma medium that is intensively studied for fusion application offers a broad range of applications from processing plasmas, to plasma coating and plasma propulsion. One direction that is actively pursued in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics is the development of a plasma source for plasma-based wake field accelerator. Professor Schmitz is a full member of the AWAKE project at CERN and his group operates the Long Wake Field Accelerator Plasma prototype (LWAP-proto) cell.
Plasma science
We lead plasma science research, the fundamental study of the fourth state of matter for applications in fusion, deep space propulsion and space science.
Our labs boast some of the most innovative approaches to this challenge. The Z-pinch process uses an electric current to magnetically confine, compress, and heat a long cylinder of flowing plasma. By eliminating the need for magnetic field coils, this design suggests that fusion power can be harnessed in a low-mass system that would be far more accessible, cost-effective, and versatile than previously imagined. The SPACE Lab focuses on theoretical modeling and innovative experiment design to explore the plasma physics of electric thrusters and other space technologies.
Key research areas
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- Flow Z-Pinch Lab
- Space Propulsion and Advanced Concepts Engineering Lab (SPACE Lab)
Associated faculty
- Justin Little
- Uri Shumlak
- Bhuvana Srinivasan
Research highlights
FuZE Experiments
The FuZE Lab measured a sustained nuclear fusion for the first time from a Z-pinch by using flows to stabilize plasma, a potential route for low-cost fusion in the future.
Electric propulsion systems
Collaborating with the UW eScience Institute, A&A will be applying data science methods to optimize the performance of an electric propulsion system.
Award highlights
NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship
A&A’s Charlie Kelly won a NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship for his research on “Revolutionizing Orbit Insertion with Magnetoshell Aerocapture.”
American Physical Society Fellow
Professor Uri Shumlak has been elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for pioneering investigations of sheared flow stabilization in the Z-pinch.
Related News
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Daniel Alex uses complex simulations to understand plasma instabilities that could unlock clean fusion energy.
Tue, 11/12/2024 | GeekWire
GeekWire recognizes Professor Uri Shumlak for his work to advance fusion energy.
Wed, 10/09/2024 | GeekWire
A&A spinoff Zap Energy receives another major round of investment to advance key fusion energy technologies for municipal power.
Wed, 11/01/2023
Little’s award is for research on extracting power from solar winds on the lunar surface.
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Plasma Physics Experiment
Experimental studies in plasma physics are primarily concerned with measurements that broaden understanding of basic properties of plasmas and of ions in the plasma environment: transport properties, fluctuations, and influences of plasma fields on the radiative properties of atoms and ions (plasma spectroscopy). Out of these studies come, in addition to basic data for comparison with plasma theory, new diagnostic techniques that may be applied in future fusion power and industrial techniques. Personnel
Research Areas
- Electron Cyclotron Emission from Fusion Plasmas
- Magnetic Fusion
- Edge Plasmas
- Innovative Fusion Experiments
- Picosecond Laser-Produced Plasmas
- Strongly Coupled Plasmas
- Intense Laser-Matter Interactions
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Energy Research Center
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High-Energy Density Physics
Experimental Plasma Physics
Studies of plasmas driven by high-energy lasers
Research Highlights
First laboratory observation of collisionless shocks of cosmic relevance.
In 2014 we reported the first measurements of the formation and structure of a magnetized collisionless shock by a laser-driven magnetic piston in a current-free laboratory plasma. …
First experimental demonstration of Larmor coupling mechanism
Larmor coupling is a collisionless momentum exchange mechanism believed to occur in various astrophysical and space-plasma environments, as well as in cosmic magnetized collisionless shock formation. It has received extensive theoretical attention over the past few decades, but it has never before been observed in a laboratory setting. …
First lab generation of ultra-low frequency waves driven by right-hand instability
Novel volumetric measurements using a high-repetition rate laser reveal the spatial structure of these waves, including evidence of current filaments. High-energy laser experiments and spacecraft observations contain similar waves, and the frequencies of both are quantitatively well matched by corresponding 2D hybrid simulations. These results show that ULF-analog waves can be successfully produced in the laboratory by the same mechanism that creates ULF waves in space. …
First 2D LIF ion velocity distribution measurements in a laser-produced plasma
Laser-produced plasma velocity distributions are an important, but difficult quantity to measure. We developed a non-invasive spectrally and temporally-resolved technique for measuring individual charge state velocity distributions of laser-produced plasmas. The technique had the ability to detect particles up to 7 m from their inception, significantly larger than most lab-astro plasma experiments, which take place at or below the millimeter scale. …
Laser produced plasmas in experiments
PHOENIX Laser Lab
Since 2005, the HEDP Group is engaged in experimental plasma physics research with high-energy lasers. Most of the group experiments take place in our PHOENIX Laser Lab hosting three lasers and two target chambers, or at the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) at UCLA Basic Plasma Science Facility, a 18 m long, 0.75 m diameter magnetized plasma column. The combination of the two devices creates a unique platform for various lab-astro experiments and fundamental problems in modern plasma physics.
Our group is part of the Center for Matter under Extreme Conditions (CMEC) collaboration, a vast team of students and scientists from different universities and national laboratories aiming to study matter under extreme pressure.
PHOENIX Laser Lab also creates an environment for hands-on training of graduate and undergraduate students, where they learn how to design experimental setups, build new diagnostics, plan laser campaigns, and develop data analysis procedures suitable to single-shot or high-repetition rate aquisition.
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COMMENTS
The plasma ball is a miniature Tesla coil. Inside the ball is a coil of wires that have electrons going through them oscillating at a very high frequency. This shakes the atoms around the wires so hard that their electrons start to fall off!
Apr 3, 2013 · The Plasma Globe is an engaging and safe tool for studying high voltages and the electric field. Here are our top 10 demonstrations to perform with the Plasma Globe.
Explore the exciting world of fusion science through our fun educational resources. Journey inside a plasma-confining tokamak, control plasma experiments online or use our physics modules! Visit the sections below to explore different aspects of plasma physics and magnetically confined fusion.
Physics 312 Basic Plasma Physics 5 Topics for presentations 1. Computer simulation of cold plasma oscillations (Birdsall and Langdon, Plasma Physics via Computer Simulations, p.90) 2. Two-stream instability (ibid, p.104) 3. Landau damping (ibid. p.124) 4. Particle motion in electric and magnetic flelds (tokamak) http://www.elmagn.chalmers.se ...
Individual experimental campaigns seek to develop new methods for plasma startup and heating, new diagnostics for measuring plasma characteristics during operation, and new understanding of how plasma interacts with the solid surfaces at the interface with the device.
We lead plasma science research, the fundamental study of the fourth state of matter for applications in fusion, deep space propulsion and space science. Our labs boast some of the most innovative approaches to this challenge.
Experimental studies in plasma physics are primarily concerned with measurements that broaden understanding of basic properties of plasmas and of ions in the plasma environment: transport properties, fluctuations, and influences of plasma fields on the radiative properties of atoms and ions (plasma spectroscopy).
Since 2005, the HEDP Group is engaged in experimental plasma physics research with high-energy lasers. Most of the group experiments take place in our PHOENIX Laser Lab hosting three lasers and two target chambers, or at the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) at UCLA Basic Plasma Science Facility, a 18 m long, 0.75 m diameter magnetized plasma column.
Dec 10, 2014 · We describe a laboratory plasma physics experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory that uses two merging supersonic plasma jets formed and launched by pulsed-power-driven railguns.
Plasma Py could include commonly used functions in plasma physics, easy-to-use plasma simulation codes, Grad-Shafranov solvers, eigenmode solvers, and tools to analyze both simulations and experiments. The development will include modern programming practices such as version control, embedding documentation in the code, unit tests, and avoiding ...