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Laser Products I Hate

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Re: Laser Products I Hate

#21

Post by StavrosK »

adrianN wrote: post #17
throwanem wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we may see a viable laser rifle soon We won't. It's been a while since I compared the muzzle energy of a rifle bullet and that of a relatively powerful laser, and I don't have the time to dig up the comparison again right now, but the tl;dr: is that we won't see an even theoretically man-portable laser that can put a hole through someone for a very long time, if ever. Setting things on fire and damaging light senso…

A rifle has a muzzle energy of a couple kilojoules. So you're looking at lasers in the kW power range. I doubt that you could do comparable damage even if you could deliver comparable energy. Flesh doesn't conduct heat terribly well and vaporizing a centimeter of skin is not very lethal.

Sure, but who hasn't thought of turning their enemies into zebras?

Re: Laser Products I Hate

#22

Post by atemerev »

stavros wrote: post #19
gambiting wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I absolutely had to pick, and the choice was between 1) get shot and maybe survive; or 2) 100% chance of getting blinded - I'd pick the first one.

Why are you comparing a weapon that has to hit a whole person and misses to a weapon that has to hit a 5mm retina and somehow never misses?

Because lasers are usually continuous and even reflections are very dangerous.

Re: Laser Products I Hate

#23

Post by matthewmacleod »

stavros wrote: post #19
gambiting wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I absolutely had to pick, and the choice was between 1) get shot and maybe survive; or 2) 100% chance of getting blinded - I'd pick the first one.

Why are you comparing a weapon that has to hit a whole person and misses to a weapon that has to hit a 5mm retina and somehow never misses?

I think the thing is though that it doesn't. It just has to scatter off of something else in the wrong way, and boom.

Re: Laser Products I Hate

#24

Post by microcolonel »

atemerev wrote: post #8

I don't know, looks like an advertisement to me. Fun, dangerous, barely legal -- what's not to like?

Yeah, I don't really see the issue. People play with knives, operate firearms, use table saws, and cross the street in traffic all the time. The stakes are high in life, and if you're not careful you might poke an eye out with that thing, but what fun is a world where everything is engineered to be too dull to poke an eye out?

Re: Laser Products I Hate

#25

Post by xioxox »

microcolonel wrote: post #24
atemerev wrote: post #8

I don't know, looks like an advertisement to me. Fun, dangerous, barely legal -- what's not to like?

Yeah, I don't really see the issue. People play with knives, operate firearms, use table saws, and cross the street in traffic all the time. The stakes are high in life, and if you're not careful you might poke an eye out with that thing, but what fun is a world where everything is engineered to be too dull to poke an eye out?

Because it's extremely easy to damage other people with lasers. Stray reflections can easily blind. It's one thing if you're in an enclosed space only able to hurt yourself, but most of the real world is not like that.

Re: Laser Products I Hate

#26

Post by wnkrshm »

stavros wrote: post #19
gambiting wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I absolutely had to pick, and the choice was between 1) get shot and maybe survive; or 2) 100% chance of getting blinded - I'd pick the first one.

Why are you comparing a weapon that has to hit a whole person and misses to a weapon that has to hit a 5mm retina and somehow never misses?

cause

a) you can't see when you're being shot at b) it suffices if there is a sufficiently large (to you invisible) reflection within your field of vision c) you can automatically scan a whole field very quickly, invisibly, silently d) the laser spot gets larger at a distance, so the laser is not a pointer but a shotgun cone with 2m diameter

Re: Laser Products I Hate

#27

Post by anfractuosity »

xioxox wrote: post #25
microcolonel wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I don't really see the issue. People play with knives, operate firearms, use table saws, and cross the street in traffic all the time. The stakes are high in life, and if you're not careful you might poke an eye out with that thing, but what fun is a world where everything is engineered to be too dull to poke an eye out?

Because it's extremely easy to damage other people with lasers. Stray reflections can easily blind. It's one thing if you're in an enclosed space only able to hurt yourself, but most of the real world is not like that.

Also animals like cats might actively try to catch it.

Re: Laser Products I Hate

#28

Post by arkades »

microcolonel wrote: post #24
atemerev wrote: post #8

I don't know, looks like an advertisement to me. Fun, dangerous, barely legal -- what's not to like?

Yeah, I don't really see the issue. People play with knives, operate firearms, use table saws, and cross the street in traffic all the time. The stakes are high in life, and if you're not careful you might poke an eye out with that thing, but what fun is a world where everything is engineered to be too dull to poke an eye out?

Because the selling point is public use: its not just dangerous for the operator, but goes out of its way to invite bystanders.

Re: Laser Products I Hate

#29

Post by rini17 »

anfractuosity wrote: post #12
dhimes wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not so much the power as the total energy delivered that matters. So, in that sense, it will depend on the batteries (or whatever storage mechanism they use) as much as the lasers themselves.

Yeah definitely, I can't help but think the power source needed would be very heavy too.

Who makes you unable to help yourself? Say, one watt delivered onto the retina can do damage very quickly. One AA battery can easily supply that.
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