title: Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy
author:  Jeffrey P. Freidberg 
description: Review of the hardback: 'The book achieves [its] goal remarkably well ... The most modern and thorough introductory textbook on plasma physics for fusion research that I have seen, providing rigorous mathematical descriptions for most of the concepts. I highly recommend it.' T. J. Dolan, Fusion Science and Technology
zlib_text: © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
  
  Francis F. ChenIntroduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled
  Fusion[https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22309-4_1](A978-3-319-22309-4_1_Chapter.html)
  
  # 1\. Introduction
  
  Francis F. Chen1
  
  (1)
  
  Electrical Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles,
  CA, USA
  
  ## 1.1 Occurrence of Plasmas in Nature
  
  
  It is now believed that the universe is made of 69 % dark energy, 27 % dark
  matter, and 1 % normal matter. All that we can see in the sky is the part of
  normal matter that is in the plasma
  
  
  state, emitting radiation. Plasma
  
  
  in physics, not to be confused with blood plasma, is an “ionized” gas in which
  at least one of the electrons in an atom has been stripped free, leaving a
  positively charged nucleus, called an ion. Sometimes plasma is called the
  “fourth state of matter.” When a solid is heated, it becomes a liquid. Heating
  a liquid turns it into a gas. Upon further heating, the gas is ionized into a
  plasma. Since 