A few months ago, I was approached by a company called TechLasers about doing a review of a green laser product of theirs. Now, I have to admit, I have always thought that lasers ( which stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) were incredibly “cool”. Recently they have been made even more famous through TV shows like C.S.I. as they are used to recreate bullet trajectories. Lasers nowadays are in so many different products that we use daily, the most notable being CD/DVD players and bar scanners in supermarkets and stores. If you work at an office, you probably also have a laser printer. Lasers have revolutionized surgery as well. (Read up on lasers on Wikipedia.) I had always wanted to have a laser pointer when I was younger. My “dream” finally came true when I received a laser pointer/LED flashlight from a vendor at a tradeshow as a giveaway. But I digress…
Prior to being contacted by TechLasers, I had very little knowledge of laser pointers or laser technology in general. What I did know was rudimentary: there were different types, red, green and blue, for example. Red was the most common and green and blue being much more powerful and expensive, at least in the “laser pointer” market. The more powerful the laser pointer, the further it could go. I also knew that lasers do not get perceptively wider or less dim as they travel distances (they actually do obviously). Think about a flashlight, the further away it is, the wider the dispersal of the beam and the dimmer the beam. With a laser, if you were to measure the glowing red or green dot as it appears 10 feet away or 1000 feet away, it would be practically the same size and brightness (obviously, it does change somewhat the further the light travels).
Of course, this is a dramatic over-simplification of this technology, and I’m only specifically talking about the visible spectrum. Other types that most people have heard of are X-ray, Ultraviolet and Infrared lasers.
I’m not going to write an article about what lasers are or how they work. I am, however, going to discuss how you might use them within a family environment and the safety concerns and legality of using them.
Eye Danger
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