Can plasma be made dense enough to the point of acting like a solid without reaching extreme temperatures. Such as a cold plasma behaving in this way

Question

Could a cold plasma be densified until its particles are so densely packed together that it behaves like a solid without reaching extreme temperatures? If so how?

Edit: okay there seems to be a confusion. I’m not trying to cool the plasma but simple push the particles so close together that they are equal in density to solids. There’s no reason it shouldn’t be able to do this and be still considered a plasma like substance because the moment the pressure holding it together (electromagnetic field) is relieved it goes back to classical plasma. I just want to know if increasing the density of cold plasma would make it hotter?

Related: "How is a plasma different from a metal or an ionized gas?", "Is there such a thing as "cold plasma"?" — David Bailey, Jan 10 '24 at 05:17
The cores of stars have densities at or above solids but they do not behave like a solid. If a plasma is really cold (i.e., < 1 eV) and dense (> 10$^{6}$ cm$^{-3}$), I would naively expect it to recombine to neutral atoms and become a neutral gas, not a solid... — honeste_vivere, Jan 11 '24 at 14:39
If it doesn’t behave like a solid how is it considered a solid? If you put a solid object ontop of it would it act like a table or not? Assume the extreme conditions don’t affect the object. — Ink, Jan 12 '24 at 02:05

Dale · Answer 1 · 2024-01-10T02:56:40.883

1

Plasma by definition is an ionized gas. Gas is fluid, so it will not behave like a solid. Above the critical temperature and pressure there is no real distinction between a gas and a liquid. Both are just a supercritical fluid.

edited Jan 10 '24 at 02:56

answered Jan 10 '24 at 02:50

Dale

99,825

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 10 '24 at 02:58

The center of the Sun is hydrogen at millions of degrees and extreme pressure. At that temperature, it is completely ionized. It is compressed to a density of 100 times that of water. It is still fluid.

If you cooled it to the point that it becomes solid (If it does. I don't know the properties of such a dense substance.), I expect it would not be ionized. Hence, not a plasma.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 15 '24 at 15:47

Depending on the plasma temperature and the density, the plasma coupling parameter (ratio of potential energy to kinetic energy) is what determines wether the plasma should be treated as a classical or quantum, weakly coupled or strongly coupled. This is because if the plasma is very dense so that the average inter-particle distance is on the order of the de Broglie wavelength, then quantum considerations must be taken into account.

Can plasma be made dense enough to the point of acting like a solid without reaching extreme temperatures. Such as a cold plasma behaving in this way

3 Answers3