Lighters can be very handy, you can use them for lighting candles, or even for starting a fire if you love camping and outdoor activities. There are many types of lighters out there, from plain simple ones, the famous Zippos, some fancy and pricey ones, and now, quite techy plasma lighters. There are a lot of new technology gadgets in the market, and plasma lighters are one of them. But why do you need a plasma lighter? When you are choosing a lighter, you need one that will last, a one that will be simple to use and one that won’t let you down when you need it the most.
These gadgets are also known as an arc or electric lighters, and we are going to teach you everything you need to know about them.
What are Plasma Lighters?
Source:unofficialnetworks.com
A plasma lighter is an electronic lighter that has a single or dual arc of plasma between two or more electrodes. They are very easy to use because you ignite the plasma by pressing a button. You won’t torture yourself by trying to light them like regular lighters. You don’t need to throw them away when they stop working, because they don’t use fuel like regular lighters. In most cases, they have lithium-ion batteries that can be charged with a USB cable while some still do come with alkaline batteries. You can charge your lighter via USB when you are working on your laptop, and it will be fully charged in about an hour.
How do they work?
Firstly we need to have a quick science class and learn what plasma is. Plasma is the fourth state of matter, as it refers to an ionized gas which allows the flow of electrons. The ignition with the plasma lighter happens when a voltage difference is developed, and when it’s created an electric arc flows between two or even more strategically placed electrodes. So there is no open fire with these lighters. And another lesson we learned from science class is that you need three ingredients to make fire, oxygen, heat, and fuel. We get the oxygen from the air, heat from the electrons moving through the air between the electrodes, and one more thing we need is fuel. The fuel source is everything you want to light. For example a leaf, a piece of wood or just simply a piece of paper. You just need to put it between the electrodes to start a fire.
Are they really that good?
Maybe at this point, you are thinking do you really need some high tech lighter, when you can just buy the regular one, and buy a new one when the previous is empty. Regular lighters are cheap, but they run out of fuel really fast or they just break, and you need to buy a new one, and it becomes an infinite loop of buying regular cheap lighters. And when you do the math, it’s not that cheap anymore.
Plasma lighters don’t run out of fuel because they have batteries, which can be recharged for about 500 times, so that means that you are saving money with this lighter. There are also different types of lighters like Zippo lighters, that can be expensive, but they are quality made and they last longer. But even with the Zippo lighter, you need to buy lighter fluid, wicks, and flints regularly. You don’t need to do that with his electronic rival, which means you are saving money and you are saving planet Earth.
It’s easy to use, you can ignite it with a single push of a button, and you can use them whenever, wherever. You can light them indoor in front of a fan, or air conditioner and it will form the arcs. Or outdoors when there’s a strong wind blowing, and it will still light, which makes them perfect for campers. They are also safer than regular lighters because they don’t make an open flame, so you don’t need to worry about accidental fire or burning your hair, beard or eyebrows, and we all know that can happen sometimes. But still keep your fingers away from the arc, because the heat it produces can burn you.
