This technology may lead to improvements in aircraft flight range and landing on short runways. The most prevalent man-made plasmas on our planet are the plasmas in lamps.
Fluorescent lamps find widespread use in homes, industry and commercial settings.
Inside every fluorescent lamp there lurks a plasma. It is the plasma that converts electrical power to a form that causes the lamp's phosphor coating to produce the light we see. The phosphor is the white coating on the lamp wall. A fluorescent lamp is shown here with part of the phosphor coating removed to reveal the blue plasma glow inside. High-intensity sources are widely used in industrial and commercial settings as well as for outdoor and security lighting near homes and public areas.