[Other] The not so funny pic thread (some NSFL or gore)

GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Half a million Egyptians protesting in the street.

Military helicopter stops to hover overhead.

The rabble break out the laser pointers.



I can only imagine what that looks like to the pilot.

(note the green color... green laser pointers are generally several orders of magnitude brighter/more powerful than the red ones we've all played with)
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

GasBandit said:
([...]green laser pointers are generally several orders of magnitude brighter/more powerful than the red ones we've all played with)
Click to expand...
Not really. Our eyes are just especially good at seeing green, so it looks brighter to us because it excites our eyes more than other colors.

--Patrick
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
PatrThom said:
Not really. Our eyes are just especially good at seeing green, so it looks brighter to us because it excites our eyes more than other colors.

--Patrick
Click to expand...
I didn't mean the color itself is inherently more powerful, just that the more powerful laser pointers I've seen generally tend to be green. IE, the ones that pop balloons, etc.
 
Null

Null

Green light does have a shorter wavelength and higher frequency than red light, so it does require higher energy. Basically it goes radio waves, infra-red, red orange yellow green blue indigo violet (visible light spectra), ultra-violet, microwaves, etc, in terms of energy.

Most red laser pointers are made at 650 nanometer wavelength, and green at 532 nanometer. Since the red laser requires less energy and less fine manufacture, they tend to be weaker. Green lasers almost always pack more wattage so they tend to be hotter. A laser pointer with a beam that visible would have to have a pretty decent amount of power.
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

Null said:
A laser pointer with a beam that visible would have to have a pretty decent amount of power.
Click to expand...
If you look carefully, you'll see more than a few purple beams in that picture, too. Converting a Blu-Ray laser is one thing, but a purpose-built high-energy violet is another.

(correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that you "spend" some of your energy upping the frequency, so comparing two lasers that have equal output power but different wavelengths, the shorter wavelength would draw more power at the wall)

--Patrick
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Nah, the guy who requested the purple laser just didn't want viewers to confuse him with the green-wielding ones to either side.
 
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