• Question: can you desighn a laser that can burn thrug bark of a tree

    Asked by ticehurst to Andrew, Ash, Gem, Paige, SJ on 25 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: SarahJayne Boulton

      SarahJayne Boulton answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Such lasers already exist!

      Check out this video of a laser cutter being used to pattern a plank of plywood. Awesome!

    • Photo: Andrew Thomas

      Andrew Thomas answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      There are already lasers which cut through metal never mind tree bark. Most of these use the gas carbon dioxide to last. There are plenty of videos on youtube such as this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9BvPeAmuvc&feature=related

    • Photo: Gemma Staite

      Gemma Staite answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      Personally I couldn’t have, but some clever people did and they are impressive

    • Photo: Ashley Cadby

      Ashley Cadby answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      Yes,we have one in our lab. My students call it the death ray. It not actually that powerful its 4 Watts, we also have 10W lasers, so these are way less powerful than a normal energy saving light bulb. There destructive power comes from all of the 4 or 10 Watts being confined to a couple of millimetres. We use our lasers to make bacteria glow, or study solar cells.

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 29 Jun 2012:

      As SJ said, just lasers exist!

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