First Full Science Results From Herschel 22
davecl writes "Today the first full science results from the Herschel Space Observatory were released, including results ranging from the formation and evolution of galaxies to the detailed physics of star formation. Details can be found from The European Space Agency, the BBC, and the Herschel mission blog that I help maintain. Briefer reports, covering rather more of the science, can also be found under the #eslab2010 hashtag on Twitter."
Re:Not so fast... (Score:3, Insightful)
[physlink.com]
A plasma (or, more properly, an electromagnetic plasma) is a phase of matter that has enough energy for the electrons to [be] separated from the nucleus. It consists of independently moving electrons and nuclei...
Wouldn't it be impossible to have a plasma made from a molecule, especially a polar molecule like H2O? It's been a long time since high school and college chemistry, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but if a plasma, by definition, has enough energy to strip electrons from the nucleus of an atom, then wouldn't it also have enough energy to break molecules into their elemental constituents? Or are some molecular binding forces stronger than the electrical forces that bind electrons to nuclei?