Quick question: How many states of matter are there?
If you said three—solid, liquid, gas—you’re remembering what most of us were taught in school.
But there’s a fourth. And it makes up 99% of the visible universe.
Plasma.
Ever wonder why we barely learned about it? Why three states get all the attention when the fourth is literally everywhere in space?
I did too. And the more I looked into plasma, the more I wondered what else we weren’t taught.
What We Learned in School
Remember science class? The three states of matter:
Solid: Fixed shape, fixed volume. Ice.
Liquid: Fixed volume, takes shape of container. Water.
Gas: No fixed shape or volume, expands to fill space. Steam.
Heat up a solid, it melts to liquid. Heat up a liquid, it evaporates to gas. Cool it down, reverse the process. Simple. Memorable. Makes sense.
And then… nothing. That’s where most science education stops.
We got a diagram showing ice → water → steam. Maybe a mention that there’s technically a fourth state called plasma, but it’s rare or exotic or only exists in laboratories and stars.
Move along. Nothing to see here.
Except that’s not quite true.
What Plasma Actually Is
Keep heating that gas. Add more energy. Eventually, the atoms get so energized that electrons start ripping away from their nuclei.
You’re left with a soup of charged particles—free electrons and ions. That’s plasma.
It’s not rare. It’s not exotic. It’s everywhere:
The sun? Plasma.
All stars? Plasma.
Lightning? Plasma.
Auroras (Northern and Southern Lights)? Plasma.
Neon signs? Plasma.
Fluorescent lights? Plasma.
The solar wind? Plasma.
Most of interstellar space? Plasma.
99% of the visible universe is in the plasma state. Yet we spent maybe 5 minutes on it in school, if that.
Why?
The Properties That Matter
Plasma isn’t just “hot gas.” It behaves fundamentally differently because it’s electrically charged.
It conducts electricity. Unlike neutral gas, plasma can carry electrical current.
It responds to magnetic fields. You can shape, contain, and move plasma with magnetism.
It generates its own magnetic fields. Moving charged particles create magnetic fields, which affect other plasma, which creates more fields…
It can transmit energy over vast distances. Electromagnetic forces in plasma can connect regions of space across enormous distances.
It forms structures. Plasma self-organizes into filaments, sheets, cells—complex structures governed by electromagnetic forces.
This isn’t speculative. This is observed, measurable, repeatable physics.
So why don’t we learn about it?
What This Explains
Once you understand that most of the universe is plasma, and that plasma conducts electricity and responds to magnetic fields, a lot of cosmic phenomena start making more sense.
Solar flares? Plasma dynamics and magnetic reconnection.
The solar wind? Plasma streaming from the sun, carrying magnetic fields.
Auroras? Solar plasma interacting with Earth’s magnetic field.
Galaxies’ spiral arms? Possibly shaped by plasma currents and magnetic fields, not just gravity.
Cosmic filaments? Plasma structures connecting galaxies.
Mainstream astrophysics absolutely studies plasma. It’s not suppressed or hidden. But it’s presented as a specialty topic, not a fundamental framework.
Most people finish school thinking the universe is mostly empty space with some gravity and rocks. When actually, it’s mostly plasma, electricity, and magnetism.
The Gravity-Only Model
Here’s what’s interesting: For most of history, astronomy focused almost exclusively on gravity.
Stars, planets, galaxies—all explained through gravitational mechanics. Newton’s laws, Einstein’s relativity. Gravity curves spacetime, objects move along geodesics, everything’s geometric.
And that’s not wrong. Gravity is real and important. But it’s not the only force at play.
Electromagnetic forces are actually stronger than gravity. By a lot. Like, 10^39 times stronger (that’s a 1 with 39 zeros after it).
The reason we don’t notice electromagnetic forces dominating everyday life is that most matter is electrically neutral—positive and negative charges cancel out.
But in plasma, charges are separated. Electromagnetic forces dominate. And most of the universe is plasma.
So why do most people leave school thinking the universe is governed primarily by gravity?
Plasma Cosmology
There’s a field called plasma cosmology that suggests electromagnetic forces play a much bigger role in cosmic structure than mainstream models acknowledge.
Not replacing gravity—adding electromagnetic dynamics to the picture.
Some observations that plasma cosmology tries to explain:
- Spiral galaxy structure (plasma filaments?)
- Cosmic web of galaxy filaments (plasma currents?)
- Star formation (electromagnetic forces, not just gravitational collapse?)
- Solar phenomena (electrical interactions, not just nuclear?)
Now, I’m not saying mainstream astrophysics is wrong. Genuinely. The standard model has tremendous explanatory power and has made accurate predictions.
But it’s interesting that a field of study focusing on the most abundant state of matter in the universe gets treated as fringe or alternative, while gravity-only models dominate education and funding.
Why Wasn’t I Taught This?
Here’s what bothers me: Plasma isn’t controversial. It’s accepted science. You can create plasma in a lab. You can measure its properties. It’s used in industry (plasma cutting, plasma TVs, semiconductor manufacturing).
So why does the average person finish 12+ years of education without understanding that 99% of the universe is in a state of matter they barely learned about?
Maybe it’s just curriculum limitations. Only so much time, can’t teach everything, focus on what’s most relevant to daily life.
Or maybe it’s something else. Maybe understanding that the universe is mostly electrified plasma, conducting currents and generating magnetic fields, would raise questions about models that focus almost exclusively on gravity and geometry.
Maybe understanding plasma would make people wonder: What else are we not being taught about how the universe actually works?
Just Noticing the Gap
I’m not claiming to have answers here. I’m not an astrophysicist. I don’t have a better model of the cosmos ready to replace the standard one.
But I am noticing a pattern: The most abundant state of matter in the universe gets barely a mention in standard education. The electromagnetic forces that dominate plasma get downplayed in favor of gravity-only explanations. Alternative frameworks that emphasize plasma and electricity get labeled “fringe” despite being based on observable physics.
Why?
Is it because plasma astrophysics is genuinely less useful for understanding the cosmos? Maybe.
Or is it because introducing electromagnetic forces as a major player would require rethinking a lot of accepted models? And institutions don’t like rethinking things that are already “settled”?
I don’t know. But the gap between plasma’s cosmic abundance and its educational presence seems… odd.
What This Connects To
Remember the broader pattern:
Education (Essay #5): We’re taught what institutions want us to learn, in the frameworks they want us to use. Critical thinking is encouraged—within approved boundaries.
The system selects for conformity. People who question too much get filtered out.
Maybe plasma is just an oversight. Or maybe it’s an example of how education shapes what we think is worth knowing.
If you finish school thinking the universe is mostly empty space held together by gravity, you’re going to view reality through that lens. You’re not going to question whether electromagnetic forces might matter more than you were told.
You’ve been given a framework. And most people never question the framework—they just operate within it.
Make Of It What You Will
So why don’t we learn about plasma—the state of matter that makes up 99% of the visible universe?
Maybe it’s just a curriculum choice. Limited time, focus on what’s most relevant to students’ lives.
Or maybe there’s a reason the fourth state of matter gets mentioned once and forgotten.
I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy to hide plasma physics. Plasma research happens. Papers get published. It’s not suppressed.
But it is de-emphasized. Treated as specialty knowledge instead of foundational understanding.
And once you notice that gap, you start wondering: What else is foundational that we’re not being taught? What else have we been told is “settled” when maybe it’s just the dominant model?
Plasma is real. It’s everywhere. It’s fascinating. And most people don’t know it exists.
Next time you see lightning, or the auroras, or the sun, remember: That’s not gas. That’s plasma. The fourth state. The dominant state. The one we barely learned about.
And ask yourself: What else am I not seeing because I was never taught to look for it?
Side note: If you want to dive deeper into plasma physics and its cosmic implications, look into the work of Hannes Alfvén (Nobel Prize winner for magnetohydrodynamics), Anthony Peratt (plasma physicist at Los Alamos), or even just basic plasma physics textbooks. It’s legitimate science—just not emphasized in standard education.
End of Essay #8
