What plasma temperature range to expect from Earth atmosphere common elements?

I intend to write a character that has the ability to turn nearby gasses into plasma for combat and utility purposes. However, I've been studying how plasma works and (as someone who is not as savvy with chemistry and physics as I would like) I've been struggling with understanding the energy and temperatures involved.

So while I'm still trying to wrap my head around all that stuff, I thought I would ask; if someone was limited to only making plasma from available gasses around them (assuming surface level modern-day Earth atmosphere) what kind of temperatures would I be working with? I'm mostly concerned with the most abundant gasses, presuming that not much can be done with gasses too minute in quantity in normal air.

From this, could this character make "cold" plasma that wouldn't burn someone? What about plasma that has enough energy to cause damage but not outright kill? Would they need to carry around gas tanks to be more flexible with what they can do if what's in the air is insufficient for something those last two things?

As I said, I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to physics and chemistry (at least, in these topics) so I'd appreciate any help on this, as trying to find these answers on my own has been tricky.

posted about 5 years ago

Necrikus‭

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