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Wikipedia states that

The electron temperature of a plasma can be several orders of magnitude higher than the temperature of the neutral species or of the ions. This is a result of two facts. Firstly, many plasma sources heat the electrons more strongly than the ions. Secondly, atoms and ions are much heavier than electrons, and energy transfer in a two-body collision is much more efficient if the masses are similar. Therefore, equilibration of the temperature happens very slowly, and is not achieved during the time range of the observation.

How can it be less efficient ? Is there energy loss? Where does the energy go if no new particles are produced?

Also, maybe unrelated, but is the temperature at equilibrium in stars?

Euphorbium
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    As for efficiency, consider simple hard sphere scattering. A ball of mass $m$ hits another ball of mass $m$ - in a head on collision the first ball can transfer all of its energy to the second ball. For a ball of mass $m/2000$ (an electron) hitting a ball of mass $m$ (a proton), how much energy goes into the second ball? For heavier ions, it only gets worse. – Jon Custer Dec 06 '17 at 22:27
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    Related: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/143738/59023 – honeste_vivere Dec 14 '17 at 13:36

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