2008 Woodie Awards
Cold Plasma: Cool stuff
Daniel Fulton, among others
Issue date: 1/25/08 Section: Features
Solid, liquid, gas, plasma. Of the four states of matter that exist in our universe, plasma comprises, by far, the largest portion. Here on earth, plasma can be witnessed in the glow of a fire, the excited mercury vapor in a fluorescent light bulb, or in the image from a plasma TV.
Scientists have known about and worked with plasmas for decades, but recently breakthroughs working with cold plasmas opened the gates to a world of technology straight out of science fiction.
The potential use of plasmas is in their generation of free electrons. These electrons can be used to disinfect, or disable biological contaminants, to etch metal, to construct electronic circuits, or make cuts in skin.
Hot plasmas are already in use for some of these purposes, used to weld metal, etch computer chips and break down byproduct chemicals from manufacturing processes. Cold plasmas are called "cold" because they can be created in room temperature environments at atmospheric pressure.
Since the plasma is a much lower temperature, it naturally requires less energy to produce, and is much for feasible for inclusion in more commonplace technology. Even so, cold plasma might not be so cold by everyone's standards, some exceeding 212°F in temperature, but compared to the hot plasma of particles that composes our sun, 212° might not be much to complain about.
At the forefront of cold plasma research is Dr. Mounir Laroussi, director of the Laser and Plasma Engineering Institute at Old Dominion University in Virginia. Laroussi has developed a "plasma pencil," a handheld device which produces a small two inch plume of helium plasma at one end.
The effective heat dissipation of the helium keeps the plasma cool and stable, allowing it's application to sensitive surfaces such as skin. Although the pencil won't destroy mammalian skin cells, it has been shown to effectively kill E. coli and salmonella, among other harmful bacteria.
The plasma pencil could provide a safe new medical technology for easily disinfecting wounds, and in the future could be developed to remove plaque, or kill cancerous skin cells.
Scientists have known about and worked with plasmas for decades, but recently breakthroughs working with cold plasmas opened the gates to a world of technology straight out of science fiction.
The potential use of plasmas is in their generation of free electrons. These electrons can be used to disinfect, or disable biological contaminants, to etch metal, to construct electronic circuits, or make cuts in skin.
Hot plasmas are already in use for some of these purposes, used to weld metal, etch computer chips and break down byproduct chemicals from manufacturing processes. Cold plasmas are called "cold" because they can be created in room temperature environments at atmospheric pressure.
Since the plasma is a much lower temperature, it naturally requires less energy to produce, and is much for feasible for inclusion in more commonplace technology. Even so, cold plasma might not be so cold by everyone's standards, some exceeding 212°F in temperature, but compared to the hot plasma of particles that composes our sun, 212° might not be much to complain about.
At the forefront of cold plasma research is Dr. Mounir Laroussi, director of the Laser and Plasma Engineering Institute at Old Dominion University in Virginia. Laroussi has developed a "plasma pencil," a handheld device which produces a small two inch plume of helium plasma at one end.
The effective heat dissipation of the helium keeps the plasma cool and stable, allowing it's application to sensitive surfaces such as skin. Although the pencil won't destroy mammalian skin cells, it has been shown to effectively kill E. coli and salmonella, among other harmful bacteria.
The plasma pencil could provide a safe new medical technology for easily disinfecting wounds, and in the future could be developed to remove plaque, or kill cancerous skin cells.
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