A viewer asked one of the best beginner-friendly questions I've gotten: how do you actually make plasma in a lab? Is it expensive? Can a regular person build one? Great question — with an answer that spans $3 to over a billion dollars, depending on how you want to do it.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 The question: how do you make plasma? Is it doable at home?

00:11 Quick intro — Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer

00:54 The four methods: radiation, light, high voltage, and kinetic

01:11 Method 1: Radiation

01:16 Plasma is just ionized gas — radiation ionizes it

01:47 The radiation source itself isn't expensive

02:04 The facility is. Certification, shielding, monitoring, training.

02:33 Bottom line: hundreds of thousands, mostly in safety

02:46 Method 2: Light (lasers)

02:56 Focus a laser, high-e ...