Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: if plasma is so good at killing bacteria, why do we still have foodborne illnesses from packaged food? Three things: how plasma actually kills microbes, where it's already deployed (including NASA and Campbell's), and why it hasn't taken over the food packaging industry.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 The question, and the paradox

00:24 3 things to cover: mechanism, deployment, and why it's not everywhere

00:38 What plasma is: highly ionized gas full of reactive species

00:58 ROS and RNS: peroxides, peroxynitrite, ozone, electronically excited oxygen

01:14 Electrons and charged species (catalytic)

01:33 Broad-spectrum UV down into vacuum UV (VUV)

01:43 VUV doesn't travel in air, but it's generated right next to the bacteria

02:02 High electric fields at the tip of every "m ...