Laser pointer questions!

Question

Whats size in Mw does a laser pointer have to be to burst balloons and light matchs?I have heard its different for each colour,is this true?

If so what size does a red laser and a green laser pointer have to be to burst balloons and light matchs etc?Thanks everyone!

Answer 1

Anything over 1mW is illegal to sell in the UK unless for an industrial (non-portable application) it used to be 3mW but was reduced after people kept being blinded.

you need around 600mW  To burn a balloon, the power /colour issue is more to do with the absorbency of the balloon as all lasers are colour corrected to power values  thus if a Red laser at 1mW is x million photon/Sec a blue would be about half that per sec for the same power.

Answer 2

lol. god that first answer is good! ;-)

did you know... if you took the laser out of a dvd writer and powered it, you would have a very powerful laser capable of burning through things.

Answer 3

Try this site for laser info and purchases:

http://www.wickedlasers.com/