Difference between revisions of "Talk:1681: Laser Products"

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(Hi NSA, I know I'm on your watchlists for being the atheistic daughter of "Hassan" Muslim immigrants, a communist, and a tinkerer of really dangerous science, but this is xkcd and I am sure this is the least sketchy "what if" that has ever been asked on this site.)  
 
(Hi NSA, I know I'm on your watchlists for being the atheistic daughter of "Hassan" Muslim immigrants, a communist, and a tinkerer of really dangerous science, but this is xkcd and I am sure this is the least sketchy "what if" that has ever been asked on this site.)  
 
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 10:30, 18 May 2016 (UTC)
 
[[User:International Space Station|International Space Station]] ([[User talk:International Space Station|talk]]) 10:30, 18 May 2016 (UTC)
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:The first part of that question was tested in 2012. http://www.universetoday.com/93987/amateur-astronomers-flash-the-space-station/. The article mentions that the 800 million lumen (dubious) searchlights came in brighter than magnitude 0 but the 1 MW blue laser was "also visible". From the picture it looks to be about magnitude 2 or 3. To match the sun's brightness (for blinding purposes) you'd need to get that up to about -26.5. Making up a 29 magnitude difference means you'd need to make your laser about 400 billion times brighter, or about 400 petawatts. You can probably bring that power draw down significantly by focusing the beam more, but since the Earth's power consumption is only about 2.5 petawatts (per Randall), you're already pretty far outside the realm of possibility. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.220|108.162.237.220]] 13:41, 18 May 2016 (UTC)

Revision as of 13:41, 18 May 2016


Laser jet surgery might be a reference to rocket surgery? 141.101.80.25 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

What is a laser eye printer and why is it eww ? 173.245.54.29 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

It prints eyes... that should be self explanatory. 141.101.98.42 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Could also mean printing on the eye with a laser. Sounds possible but odd. 173.245.54.28 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
People buy colored and patterned contact lenses today, I think a laser eye printer would be used to print those patterns directly onto the eyeball. -boB (talk) 15:53, 16 May 2016 (UTC)
Laser eye printer sounds like the type of thing edgy people want. Imagine printing a pentagram on your pupil or sclera 162.158.26.140 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

The first laser was fired 56 years ago, on 16 May 1960 by Theodore Harold Maiman. Maybe this comic is a reference? 188.114.109.103 15:45, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

You don't need to describe how any of these work in detail, just provide a quick description and link them to wikipedia. Lackadaisical (talk) 16:50, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

Laserjet is a trademarked brand of printers from HP. Does it have any meaning beyond the trademark. I know "Inkjet" is a type of printer that sprays a jet of ink onto the paper, but normally one would just say "laser printer" if one isn't referring to an Epson model Zeimusu (talk) 19:15, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

"Laser-mounted jet aircraft"... surely you meant jet aircraft-mounted laser? I'll leave this how it is for a day or two in case I'm missing something. Xseo (talk) 19:58, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

I found this comic to be funnier than it was intended to be, especially "laser jet removal" because I'm an astronomy nerd and we (at least everyone I've stargazed with) always talk about how we shouldn't point the laser pointers at the bright, moving, blinking stars because that would be very bad and turn it into a shooting star.

On a side note, I wonder if Arctic Blues are powerful enough to be spotted by people on the ISS, and theoretically how much power and how focused a laser would have to be to blind someone in the cupola. Also how powerful it would need to be to burn a hole through its outside, assuming you had an ultra stable tracking mount. I need to know by Tuesday.

(Hi NSA, I know I'm on your watchlists for being the atheistic daughter of "Hassan" Muslim immigrants, a communist, and a tinkerer of really dangerous science, but this is xkcd and I am sure this is the least sketchy "what if" that has ever been asked on this site.) International Space Station (talk) 10:30, 18 May 2016 (UTC)

The first part of that question was tested in 2012. http://www.universetoday.com/93987/amateur-astronomers-flash-the-space-station/. The article mentions that the 800 million lumen (dubious) searchlights came in brighter than magnitude 0 but the 1 MW blue laser was "also visible". From the picture it looks to be about magnitude 2 or 3. To match the sun's brightness (for blinding purposes) you'd need to get that up to about -26.5. Making up a 29 magnitude difference means you'd need to make your laser about 400 billion times brighter, or about 400 petawatts. You can probably bring that power draw down significantly by focusing the beam more, but since the Earth's power consumption is only about 2.5 petawatts (per Randall), you're already pretty far outside the realm of possibility. 108.162.237.220 13:41, 18 May 2016 (UTC)