Idiot "geek" demos balloon popping laser on breakfast show.

[PayBack]

Ok so I turn on the TV while getting dressed, and the regular geek guy segment is on.

He's showing them how he can burn paper and pop balloons with this cool laser and the male presenter (who acts like a 13 year old most of the time) is giggling like an idiot. No one is wearing eye protection.

It gets better, the female presenter (who could have me if she asked nicely!) said to wait till she's out of the way. The geek guy says not to worry, it's only dangerous at it's focal point!!

seriously I'm no Laser guru, but I'm sure this is wrong on many levels!

1. A laser that can pop ballons in about 1 second can surely blind you past 5 feet! Even refelected in a shiny surface?

2. Focal point???

3. Don't lasers output an invisible light in a cone that you can't see but still dangerous?

Please comment if I'm right or wrong... I need to write in and point this out because otherwise we'll get tons of idiots blinding themselves and lasers will be banned in the blink of an eye (pun intended ).

 

[Steve K]

the lasers certainly sound like they could cause eye damage...

was it a green laser? From what I've read here, these use an IR emitter and use a crystal to convert to the shorter wavelength (and I could be very wrong...). The big concern is that there is a lot of IR that doesn't get converter and comes out the front. I don't know what the IR beam characteristics are. If it diverges much, it should be down to safe levels at some distance away, but how far is that? 10 feet? 20??

Overall, I'd say that your estimation of the male intelligence on this program is on the mark. At least the female show host had good instincts!
So who are these geniuses??? Local celebrities, or national talent? Identifying them would be a public service so we'll know not to trust their judgement. :shakehead

regards,
Steve K.

 

[fyrstormer]

I guess I better buy a good laser while it's still legal to do so... :shakehead

 

[alpg88]

Please comment if I'm right or wrong... I need to write in and point this out because otherwise we'll get tons of idiots blinding themselves and lasers will be banned in the blink of an eye (pun intended ).

lmao. and you think if you write that point idiots wont be blinding themselves???? , or it would make any difference????

have you been to a night club lately??? ever seen laser light effects?? seen anyone there wear goggles???

 

[derangboy]

1. A laser that can pop ballons in about 1 second can surely blind you past 5 feet! Even refelected in a shiny surface?
Yes. Absolutely.

2. Focal point???
Light exiting a laser diode is coherent and will expand. Just not as much as other light sources. Lenses are required to achieve the thin beam we typically associate with lasers. Many lasers ARE focusable too. If you are popping a ballon with, say, a 100mW laser, focusing is important unless you have a lot of time on your hands.

3. Don't lasers output an invisible light in a cone that you can't see but still dangerous?
Green lasers use an IR laser diode with a crystal that cuts the wavelength in half. If the crystal is not aligned, poorly made and does not have an IR filter, a dangerous amount of IR radiation may be emitted.

Eye protection should always be worn when handling >5mW lasers.

 

[Illum]

1. A laser that can pop ballons in about 1 second can surely blind you past 5 feet! Even refelected in a shiny surface?

A laser that can't pop balloons can cause hemorrhages past 5 feet, or at minimum moderate to severe retinal damage.

2. Focal point???

Whether there is a thing called focal point in concurrent light after it leaves the collimator is contestable. But personally I doubt such a point exists, if anything he meant divergence...but for a laser beam to diverage past the danger zone he'd might have to shine that from a couple counties over.

3. Don't lasers output an invisible light in a cone that you can't see but still dangerous?

Infrared light, may be filtered out if the laser pointer's quality is good, but like shotguns assume the chamber's loaded and its buckshot. Never assume that the laser has an infrared filter without some concrete facts from the manufacturer or an independent review with capable testing equipment. Since Infrared is outside the visible spectrum the eyes of those in its vicinity won't react at all to the radiation, which makes it especially dangerous

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

have you been to a night club lately??? ever seen laser light effects?? seen anyone there wear goggles???

professional shows have safety programmed into the show, and "hardwired" into the equipment. But, yes. There will always be idiots.

 

[DimmerD]

Well here ya go. http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/?GT1=43001

 

[PayBack]

Thanks for the replies everyone.. well nearly everyone ;-)

 

[LotusDarkrose]

Well here ya go. http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/?GT1=43001

In some cases slow-mo does actually make things even funnier