I may be a fairly good writer, but I'm still rather young. All this physics ad maths is lost upon me...I shall try to contribute.
Plasma, as I remember, is the fourth state of matter. And example of plasma is lightning (I think?) Would you call lightning a gas? No, if it struck you, you would certainly know about it.
It's perfectly possible for plasma to be harnessed by a magnetic field and directed into a path, in theory.
...don't believe anything I just said. It's probably all terribly wrong.
*Goes back to creating lightbulb circuits with crocodile clips*
:'(
"This one has forgotten whether it's heatsink is over capacity. It wonders whether the criminal scum considers itself fortunate" ~ Blasto, the only Hanar Spectre.