How do Lasers burn other objects?

Question

How do Lasers burn other objects?

Answer 1

Let's think about it like this: Play with a magnifying glass and you will notice that the light entering the magnifying glass will be bent and focused to a tiny point. If you did this on some newspaper, you will notice the paper will heat up and ignite the paper. This is because light contains a small amount of heat energy and when concentrated, will posses enough heat to ignite a flammable substance.

Now apply the same principle to a laser. Lasers are concentrated beams of light in which the light rays stay constantly parallel to each other, and with the light waves being in precise alignment to create constructive interference, which causes the waves to become far more powerful, the scientific term being coherence. So the heat energy contained in the laser is concentrated and amplified in a similar manner to a magnifying glass, only far more powerful.

If your wondering why a laser pointer won't burn paper, it's because it does not contain enough heat energy to ignite something. It takes an industrial laser to burn, cut and melt stuff.

Answer 2

The light is so intense that it heats up the object it hits.

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