Phenomenal | Solid, Liquid, Gas... Plasma? Mystery Cache
Phenomenal | Solid, Liquid, Gas... Plasma?
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CACHE LOCATED AT N44°16ABC W88°27DEF
My son came home from school the other day after studying the various states of matter and proceeded to tell me about his experiments in class. Then he asked me a couple questions about the fourth state of matter, to which I said, "what fourth state?" To which he replied, "you know, plasma, the fourth state of matter." And so, curiosity piqued, I discovered this:
A plasma is a hot ionized gas consisting of approximately equal numbers of positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons. The characteristics of plasmas are significantly different from those of ordinary neutral gases so that plasmas are considered a distinct "fourth state of matter." For example, because plasmas are made up of electrically charged particles, they are strongly influenced by electric and magnetic fields (see figure) while neutral gases are not. An example of such influence is the trapping of energetic charged particles along geomagnetic field lines to form the Van Allen radiation belts. Plasma is also acted upon by electric and magnetic fields created within the plasma itself through localized charge concentrations and electric currents that result from the differential motion of the ions and electrons. The forces exerted by these fields on the charged particles that make up the plasma act over long distances and impart to the particles' behavior a coherent, collective quality that neutral gases do not display. It is estimated that 99% of the matter in the observable universe is in the plasma state...hence the expression "plasma universe." Stars, stellar and extragalactic jets, and the interstellar medium are examples of astrophysical plasmas. In our solar system, the Sun, the interplanetary medium, the magnetospheres and ionospheres of the Earth and other planets, as well as the ionospheres of comets and certain planetary moons all consist of plasmas.
I believe that many apparently supernatural phenomena as there have been many observable natural phenomena that seem to defy the accepted laws of nature, but are no less amazing and as inexplicable and the supernatural. They seem to fall somewhere within this "fourth state" of matter, an electrically charged dimension. And, while they may not elicit visions of aliens and antlered humans, thy are spectacular.
Take for instance my mother's encounter with a crazed plasma creature. It was a rainy afternoon twenty-something years ago when we were all at school when she decided she might as well wipe the floors to pass the dreary afternoon. Soon enough, some major storm clouds rolled rolled in and at the pinnacle of the downpour she caught a flash of lighting and heard an immediate and immense thunderclap. She thought, "Wow, that was a close one!" as she waited to catch her breath. Before she could finish that thought, a bright ball of static fire popped out of a nearby electrical outlet, fell on the floor and, as if it was trying to decide where to go, sat motionless for a split second before it rushed past her into the kitchen and disappeared under the dinner table. In shock, my mother just sat there motionless, trying to fathom what she had just witnessed while all the hair on her body slowly settled back into place. She had just seen one of these super-rare phenomenon. There are many other charged oddities of this plasmatic sort and your job is to match the aberrations in the list to the summaries provided.
St Elmo's Fire (0), Transient Luminous Events (1), Relámpago del Catatumbo (2), Aurora Borealis (3), Ball Lightning (4), Min Min Lights (5).
A Also known as feux follets, will-o'-the wisps, and spooklights, these visited a sheep and cattle farm in Queensland, Australia almost every single winter during the 1950s. It circled the yard a few feet above the ground, flared and then collapsed when shot at, but soon afterward brightened and expanded again. There is a strong correlation to their appearance and areas prone to micro-quakes that contain a mixture of faulting, seismic history, mineral deposits or bodies of water.
B Also known as gnomes, blue jets, blue starters, elves and sprites. These are secondary phenomena that occur in the upper atmosphere in association with underlying thunderstorm lightning.
C Also known as the Maracaibo Beacon, this phenomenon is a form of lightning that forms a voltage arc more than five kilometers high,140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours a night, and as many as 280 times an hour.
D This stream of plasma comes from the sun and is known as the solar wind. When the solar wind interacts with the edge of the earth’s magnetic field, some of the particles are trapped by it and they follow the lines of magnetic force down into the ionosphere. When the particles collide with the gases in the ionosphere they start to glow.
E A rare effect in which a glowing, drifting bubble of light, typically some eight inches in diameter, appears. On the very rare occasions it is seen, it often, though not always, follows a regular lightning strike.
F A glowing electrical halo that can envelope the mast of ships, airplane wings and church steeples during stormy weather. It occurs when the air comes near the conducting surfaces of some projecting object like a flag pole and air masses of different temperatures move against each other creating a static build-up.
Final Coords get you to within ~20 feet of cache.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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