<P> Plasma ( from Ancient Greek πλάσμα ​ , meaning ' moldable substance ' ) is one of the four fundamental states of matter , and was first described by chemist Irving Langmuir in the 1920s . Unlike the other three states , solid , liquid , and gas , plasma does not exist freely on the Earth 's surface under normal conditions . Plasma can only be artificially generated by heating or subjecting a neutral gas to a strong electromagnetic field to the point an ionised gaseous substance becomes increasingly electrically conductive , and long - range electromagnetic fields dominate the behavior of the matter . </P>
<P> Plasma ( from Ancient Greek πλάσμα ​ , meaning ' moldable substance ' ) is one of the four fundamental states of matter , and was first described by chemist Irving Langmuir in the 1920s . Unlike the other three states , solid , liquid , and gas , plasma does not exist freely on the Earth 's surface under normal conditions . Plasma can only be artificially generated by heating or subjecting a neutral gas to a strong electromagnetic field to the point an ionised gaseous substance becomes increasingly electrically conductive , and long - range electromagnetic fields dominate the behavior of the matter . </P>
when did plasma become a state of matter
when did plasma become a state of matter
1920s
1920s