Solar activity drives an outward plasma stream known as the solar wind.
Some of the charged particles are entrained in the Earth's magnetic field, forming structures called the radiation belts. On our planet, we inhabit a calm little oasis of ordinary solids, liquids and gases that is immersed in a perpetually blowing, roiling, flaring, erupting substance of a very different kind, called plasma. Sometimes called the fourth state of matter to distinguish it from its tamer cousins, plasma makes up more than 99 percent of the visible universe by some estimates. When they are artificially produced and bottled up here on Earth, plasmas turn out to be extremely useful. We create plasmas each time we flip on a fluorescent light or a neon sign.