  We report the experimental and theoretical study of electrostatically driven
granular material. We show that the charged granular medium undergoes a
hysteretic first order phase transition from the immobile condensed state
(granular solid) to a fluidized dilated state (granular gas) with a changing
applied electric field. In addition we observe a spontaneous precipitation of
dense clusters from the gas phase and subsequent coarsening - coagulation of
these clusters. Molecular dynamics simulations shows qualitative agreement with
experimental results.
