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Real Laser Gun?

Sabretooth

No Ordinary Rabbit
Sabretooth
Joined
Aug 9, 2010
Messages
6,757
Location
Wyoming, NY
Is this thing for real? I mean, can you really homebrew something like this?



I have to get my hands on one of these. :D
 
It's real, just don't expect much more than being able to break a balloon. Note how it takes a bit of time to light those matches -- the laser isn't powerful enough to instantly light them, despite the combustibility.
 
Sure, there are handheld lasers much more powerful than what he used, that would fit inside a gun that size.

http://www.wickedlasers.com/

These things are not toys... many of them could blind you before you had time to blink.
 
The laser creates heat at the point, so it's kinda like using a magnifying glass you don't have to mess around with to focus.

If the target moves, you're not aimed at the same place anymore and the heat dissipates. A hand-held laser pistol is pretty useless unless we get to some insane power levels, and that power source would have to be light enough to carry.

Or you're just trying to blind people.
 
Probably find that it's illegal to use in many countries too. Would be in the UK for certain.
 
Cainkane1 said:
Even if a lethal lazer could be made
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Could? Lethal lasers are in use all over the world - surgery, cutting metal and other materials, science labs, and so on. They're generally a little larger and trickier to get hold of than this one, but there's absolutely no question over whether they exist.

it still wouldn't be effective as a lead bullet.
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Sure it could be. Several different projects to build laser weapons exist precisely because lasers could potentially be much more effective than bullets in certain situations.

It would lack penetrability and knockdown power.
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Knockdown, yes. Penetrability, no. The whole point is that a laser can burn through things. Put enough power into it and it will burn through pretty much anything. The projects mentioned above involve kilowatt and megawatt lasers, which are certainly capable of penetrating things as squishy as humans, and also tougher things like missiles, mortar shells, boats, and eventually even tanks and buildings, although I don't think there have been any tests on them yet.

Importantly, lasers have some big advantages over bullets - unlimited ammunition given a power source, effectively no delay between firing and hitting the target, virtually impossible to trace to the source in clear conditions (if you can see it, it means it's pointing straight at you). Of course, there are disadvantages as well, such as being limited to line of sight. And not currently being small enough to actually be practical. But in principle they could certainly be very useful in the right situation, we just haven't developed them enough yet.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean a handheld laser gun will ever be practical or better than one firing bullets. Reducing the size to something that will fit in a tank or plane is one thing, but reducing it to something that can be carried and fired by a person while still being powerful enough to be useful may just not be possible. Almost certainly not in the foreseeable future, even if it might be eventually.
 
Cuddles said:
Knockdown, yes. Penetrability, no. The whole point is that a laser can burn through things. Put enough power into it and it will burn through pretty much anything. The projects mentioned above involve kilowatt and megawatt lasers, which are certainly capable of penetrating things as squishy as humans, and also tougher things like missiles, mortar shells, boats, and eventually even tanks and buildings, although I don't think there have been any tests on them yet.
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Smoke is a big problem.
 
- unlimited ammunition given a power source,
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Until someone invents a pocket-sized fusion reactor laser weapons will not be light infantry weapons. Power conversion of lasers is very very very low.
 
I did hear about the actual Phaser. The use a lazer beam to ionize the air, then what is similar to a plasma torch. The plasma jet runs down the ionized air. Supposedly in use to detonate IEDs. Truck mounted for stability.
 
Lasers are all SF-like and give us nerds a hardon (figuratively speaking... well, mostly;)) but IMHO they'll always be niche. For more general purpose warfare we'll be stuck with kinetic penetrators for a long time. Rail-guns are much more likely to be the next step in warfare than lasers.
 
Just want to say - please don't try this at home. Lasers are amongst the scariest things you'll find in a physics lab - not because they'll explode your head and leave radioactive goop splattered over the wall but because it's just so damned easy to screw up and take your eye out. Eyes unfortunately don't grow back.

My undergraduate lab safety lecture consisted of something like:
"Don't eat anything radioactive. Don't put your hands on anything very hot or very cold. Don't electrocute yourself. Don't ride in a lift with liquid nitrogen and watch out for asphyxiation risks - they're on the handout. And now we'll spend the rest of the hour on lasers...."
 
edd said:
....................

My undergraduate lab safety lecture consisted of something like:
"Don't eat anything radioactive. Don't put your hands on anything very hot or very cold. Don't electrocute yourself. Don't ride in a lift with liquid nitrogen and watch out for asphyxiation risks - they're on the handout. And now we'll spend the rest of the hour on lasers...."
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A sign saying "DO NOT LOOK INTO LASER WITH REMAINING EYE", is commonly hung outside laser labs. I am surprised that compressed gas bottles didn't get into the safety list.
 
They were probably mentioned. It was a long time ago and I've not done that sort of hands on physics in a while! Lasers definitely got the overwhelming amount of time devoted to them though.
 
anor277 said:
A sign saying "DO NOT LOOK INTO LASER WITH REMAINING EYE", is commonly hung outside laser labs. I am surprised that compressed gas bottles didn't get into the safety list.
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I would suspect that they don't go off and hurt somebody very often.

I've owned them for 40 years. Never had a gas-related injury. In the mean time I sure have cut myself, burned myself, given myself head injuries, mild firearm injury (blown ear drum), zapped my self with 220v AC, had a car fall off the jack onto me... But never had a compressed gas problem.
 
epepke said:
Smoke is a big problem.
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Not really. If you have enough power to penetrate (for example) 2 inches of steel, then you're going to burn through a lot of smoke quickly and without much effect. Smoke will make the beam visible, which could be a problem, and it will degrade the effectiveness some, but if there's enough smoke to seriously degrade the effectiveness of a weapons-category laser, then you aren't going to be ablet o see the target to hit it with a bullet, either.

HansMustermann said:
Lasers are all SF-like and give us nerds a hardon (figuratively speaking... well, mostly;)) but IMHO they'll always be niche. For more general purpose warfare we'll be stuck with kinetic penetrators for a long time. Rail-guns are much more likely to be the next step in warfare than lasers.
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I think I agree with this, although rail guns have their issues as well, so I'm not sure they'll be first. They have a lot of advantages: very high projectile speeds, no need for an explosive shell, extreme range and accuracy. The ONR's projects (last I read) were working on a 64 MJ railgun; projected speed of Mach 17, range of 200 nautical miles with an accuracy of within 5 yards at that range, and a kinetic impact equivalent to the conventional warhead on a Tomahawk cruise missle. The plan was to mount it to a destoyer.

Of course, they have their issues as well. Power was still an issue: the ship would be limited to 3/4 speed in order to fire the weapon (for the destroyer mounted 64MJ). Also, not just the amount fo power but the fact that it all has to be dumped at once means it has similar power issues to a laser weapon. More important is the stress and strain on materials. The best materials we can find to make the rails out of are warping after only a few shots, and this is on a much smaller (~15 MJ, IIRC) test model that has been built. The extreme stresses produced from a combination of insanely high electrical voltage, insanely high friction, and insanely high magentic fields aren't easy to overcome.
 
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