• Question: have we got lasers that are small enough and powerful enough to be used as a hand gun

    Asked by jcandy to Andrew, Ash, Gem, Paige, SJ on 26 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by landshark.
    • Photo: SarahJayne Boulton

      SarahJayne Boulton answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      There is a safety classification scale for lasers that says how risky the use of a laser is according to it’s wavelength and it’s power output. This scales goes from 1-4, (1, 1B, 2, 2B, 3R, 3B and then 4)

      4 is the highest and most dangerous class of lasers, these ones can set fire to things that they are shone at. Even looking at a very blurred and diffused reflection of one of these lasers can be enough to blind you.

      We are in the advent of laser weaponry, you can see that the British army have been trialling laser weapons as reported by the BBC::

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13033437

      However as yet one has not been weaponised into a handgun type unit…as far as I know…

      If you’re interested in this kind of thing, have a look at DARPA, they do a lot of Iron Man-type research and development::

      http://www.darpa.mil/

    • Photo: Ashley Cadby

      Ashley Cadby answered on 27 Jun 2012:

      Our lasers are easy to carry around, but you would have to plug them in. I know that the American military have lasers which can be mounted on a plane. Of course the problem with lasers is that if you have a good enough mirror you can not be hurt.
      “Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      I think YES, but they would probably be very unsafe for the user to use, and very heavy!

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