I am new to this forum     

Quote from: Kyra on January 02, 2024, 11:53:18 PMI am new to this forum     

You are welcome Aditi!
Start asking your doubts in chemistry.

I was looking at Section 3 of the YBTC material and I saw the plasma topic. And it said, "Some electrons in plasma atoms are free. This means they are not bound to an atom or a molecule." My question is how is this possible? Because before you said that the electrons are like the planets, and the nucleus is the sun. So, how would the electrons just not be in an atom? Can this happen to any element's atoms or is it just for plasma?

In general, in an atom electrons are bound the nucleus but there are many examples in which electrons are out of atoms and moving around freely. Electrons can come out of atom but not the protons and neutrons.Best examples are metals which very good conductor of heat and electricity because of the presence of freely moving electrons.In metals , each metal atom loses its valence electrons and make a pool of electrons in which positively charged metal ions are present.

I understand that, but why does it come out and how does it do that?

Metals are generally with low ionization energies and can lose electrons.When they lose electrons, then there is more stability due to following reasons -
1) Metals get stable configurations like Na ⁺ is more stable than Na.
2) Presence of Na ⁺ surrounded by sea of electrons provide stability.
3)Electrons are free to move around which also provide stability due to charge delocalization.