A "
plasma" in physics is the fourth state of matter (dissociated ions) after solid, liquid and gas.
What is the fifth state of matter?
The fifth state of matter might be found in Connecticut, the fifth state to join the United States as one of the thirteen colonies.
A natural example of a plasma is a lightning bolt.
An artificial example of a plasma is a neon light (that contains neon that when on glows).
The chemical element "
Neon", atomic number 10, was named for the Greek «
νεο» because it was newly discovered (by Sir William Ramsay and Morris W. Travers in 1898).
The modern Greek word
"νέος" (NEH-os) ≈ "new". The Greek prefixes «
νου» and «
νεο», as in "
neolithic", mean "
new".
Neon is a "
noble gas" that can be used in what are called "
neon lights". Different gases yield different colors.
neon: orange
hydrogen: red
helium: yellow
carbon dioxide: white
mercury: blue
The first neon light was by Georges Claude and first appeared at the Paris Motor Show in 1910.