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Plasma   /plˈæzmə/   Listen
noun
Plasma  n.  
1.
(Min.) A variety of quartz, of a color between grass green and leek green, which is found associated with common chalcedony. It was much esteemed by the ancients for making engraved ornaments.
2.
(Biol.) The viscous material of an animal or vegetable cell, out of which the various tissues are formed by a process of differentiation; protoplasm.
3.
Unorganized material; elementary matter.
4.
(Med.) A mixture of starch and glycerin, used as a substitute for ointments.
5.
Same as blood plasma.
6.
(physics) A state of matter in which charged particles such as electrons and atomi nuclei have sufficiently high energy to move freely, rather than be bound in atoms as in ordinary matter; it has some of the properties of a gas, but is a conductor of electricity. Note: In a typical plasma, the number of positive and negative particles are approximately equal. Plasmas are found naturally in the atmosphere of stars, and can be created in special laboratory apparatus.
Blood plasma (Physiol.), the colorless fluid of the blood, in which the red and white blood corpuscles are suspended. It may be obtained by centrifuation of blood to remove the blood cells. It is distinguished from serum in that plasma still has the fibrin of blood, and may be clotted, while in serum the fibrin has been removed.
Muscle plasma (Physiol.), the fundamental part of muscle fibers, a thick, viscid, albuminous fluid contained within the sarcolemma, which on the death of the muscle coagulates to a semisolid mass.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Plasma" Quotes from Famous Books



... this world, and after I recovered full use of my faculties and checked the analyzer, I decided to land. I'm afraid I did a rather bad job of it, since I used the chemical rockets too late, and the plasma jets scorched a considerable amount of acreage in the meadow where I finally came to rest. However, the residual radioactivity is low, and it is safe enough to walk outside.... The life boat is lying beside a small stream which empties into a circular pool of blue water in the center ...
— The Issahar Artifacts • Jesse Franklin Bone
... care. One can easily see that in normal blood the red corpuscles appear smaller in the thicker than they do in the thinner layers of the dry preparation. We may explain this difference as follows. In the thick layers the red discs float in plasma before drying, whilst in the thinner parts they are fastened to the glass by a capillary layer. Desiccation occurs here nearly instantaneously, and starts from the periphery of the disc; so that an alteration in the shape or size is impossible. On the contrary the process of drying in ...
— Histology of the Blood - Normal and Pathological • Paul Ehrlich
... in the tube now shows clear supernatant fluid (citrate solution and blood plasma) separated from the sharp cut upper surface of the red deposit of corpuscles by a narrow greyish ...
— The Elements of Bacteriological Technique • John William Henry Eyre
... jargon, leaving obscurity more obscure than before. As for us, who hunger after lucidity, let us relinquish abstruse theories to whoever delights in them and confine our ambition to observable facts, without pretending to explain the quackery of the plasma. Our method certainly will not reveal to us the origin of instinct; but it will at least show us where it would be waste of ...
— The Life of the Fly - With Which are Interspersed Some Chapters of Autobiography • J. Henri Fabre
... Nevertheless I am perfectly willing to admit that other factors besides cerebral hyperaemia and anaemia may produce the functional variety of headache. There would seem to be ample ground for ascribing great causative importance to excessive irritation of the brain plasma itself. Hence those forms of headache which while, being unaccompanied by any especial circulatory derangements, succeed, oftentimes, with relentless regularity upon any considerable degree of mental work. It is not my purpose to discuss the treatment ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 415, December 15, 1883 • Various
... *Plasma.*—The plasma is a complex liquid, being made up of water and of substances dissolved in the water. The dissolved substances consist mainly of foods for the cells and wastes ...
— Physiology and Hygiene for Secondary Schools • Francis M. Walters, A.M.
... steaming, mildly radioactive tubes, just big enough for a man on hands and knees. Beyond the tube mouth was empty space, waiting for the man who slipped. Ben began ripping out the eroded blocks with a special tool. Feldman carried them back and stacked them along with others. A plasma furnace melted them down into new blocks. The work grew progressively worse as the distance to the tube-room increased. The tube mouth yawned closer and closer. There were no handholds there—only the friction of a man's ...
— Badge of Infamy • Lester del Rey


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