ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Plasma lamp

A plasma lamp is a fancy-looking light that has electricity inside it. It has a special gas called neon and some other gases too. When you turn it on, the electricity moves through the gas and lights it up, making it look like there are pretty lightning bolts inside the lamp.

Imagine you're in a dark room and you flip a switch. The light bulb goes on and you can see everything around you. But instead of a plain, boring light bulb, a plasma lamp lights up in a really cool way. It makes almost like a mini thunderstorm inside the lamp, where lots of tiny lightning bolts jump around in a pretty swirl.

The electricity that runs through the gas inside the plasma lamp is very different from the electricity that powers your house. It's called high frequency electricity, which means it moves really, really fast. It moves so fast that it can make the gas inside the lamp turn into a plasma, which is a special kind of matter that's like a gas but also not like a gas. It's a bit hard to understand (even for grown-ups!).

So basically, a plasma lamp is a special light that uses high frequency electricity to create a cool-looking plasma inside the lamp, with lots of mini lightning bolts dancing around. It's like having your own mini thunderstorm inside your house (but without the loud thunder or scary lightning!).