Up until the past couple of years, most televisions have been built around the same technology.

This technology is the cathode ray tube. In CRT televisions, a gun fires a beam of electrons into a large glass tube.

The electrons send phosphor atoms to an excited state that causes them to light up. They have good images, but they also have one big problem. They take up a lot of space and are very heavy.

Now scientists wanted to find a better way to fit a big television in a small room. They came up with the plasma flat panel display.

They still come in large sizes, but are only about six inches thick. Plasma televisions illuminate tiny colored fluorescent lights to form an image. Each pixel is made up of three fluorescent lights. A red, green, and blue light.

The plasma display varies the intensities of the different lights to produce a full range of colors like the CRT televisions. plasma displays, a small electric current stimulates an inert gas sandwiched between glass panels, including one coated with phosphors that emit light in various colors.
While just 8 cm (3 in) thick, plasma screens can be more than 150 cm (60 in) diagonally.