How Many Laser Pointers Would It Take to Kill a Human?

Everybody screw not to shine laser pointers in your heart . They could damage your vision ! ( Emphasis on could , since your eye ’s blink reflex would probably protect your retina . ) But what if you were an evil villain determined to make a death light beam ? How many optical maser pointers would it take to create a deadly weapon ?

This sounds like a crazy question because it is . Laser pointer are deliberately design to be safe for everyday use . It ’s vulgar noesis that stare at a laser can be dangerous . But the question of how many laser pointers it would take to strike a fatal blow is unavoidably rooted in the interrogation of how powerful any give laser pointer is .

A Quick Primer on Lasers

Before we dig into the grisly secret of how to kill a human with a laser point ( or a flock of them ) let ’s revisit a question from high school physics : What is a optical maser ?

The word optical maser is in reality an acronym for “ light amplification by stimulated emission of radiotherapy . ” In manifest English , a optical maser is a single beam of lightness , a bunch of photon move in the same steering . ( Normally , light sprays out in all way ) High - powered laser lodge large amounts of vitality on a focused point produce warmth and , in utmost cases , vicious burns . The United States Navy , for example , has a optical maser that ’s powerful enoughto blast a drone right out of the sky .

The persuasiveness of any laser — and therefore risk — is set by the amount of world power it output , typically assess in milliwatts . In the U.S. , the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) requires all products to be 5 milliwatts or less , and some cheap laser cursor have an outturn power of less than 1 milliwatt . However , you’re able to also Google “ cheap optical maser pointer ” and find a 5 - milliwatt devicefor less than $ 2 . Since these optical maser pointer originate from far off strange lands , they ’re often miss the safety equipment hazard dagger required by the FDA . Sometimes , they’reeven miss a critical shieldto protect dangerous infrared light from escaping the Spanish pointer .

The dangers of infrared sparkle alone are just deadly at that level , though . Infrared luminance is most touch-and-go because it ’s invisible so your optic ’s blink inborn reflex wo n’t kick in before your retina start to burn . Even still , the burn would damage your imagination , but it would n’t vote out you . You ’d need a laser much more powerful than 5 milliwatts to do that .

Or would you ?

Now Let’s Get Down to Business

The crazy matter about laser is that you may concenter the beams of several low - powered lasers and create a unmarried high - power light beam . This is no wanton project , however . Multiple optical maser arrow beams would need to be dead focused by a lens that would send the combine DOE in the centering of the fair game . It ’s sort of like the “ Do n’t cross the beam ” whoremonger from Ghostbusters but much more scientific .

If — as our morbid goal requires — you wanted to kill a man , it would be easy to blast them right in the eye . A powerful enough laser could cut through the retina and combust through the mortal ’s brain tissue . However , it would take a while , and you ’d have to focus the laser on a specific pointedness . So essentially , you ’d have to lash the person down or immobilise them in some way .

This grisly prospect is scarce the death beam of light sort of result you see in cartoon . The time factor is specially tricksy given the simple physics of the situation . James Kakalios , a physics prof at the University of Minnesota and the generator ofThe Physics of Superheroes , says that building a dying ray out of laser — and even a expiry ray in general — is middling darn toughened .

“ In society to shell a muddle in something , you have to deposit more energy in a brusque amount of clip faster than the vitality can be dissipate off , ” Kakalios explains . “ If you’re able to do this , then you’re able to overwhelm the bond take hold the stuff together , and the atoms will fly off . But if the surplus energy from the lasers can be carried away as heat , then all you ’ll have done is tender up the material . ”

But what happens when you warm up brain thing ? It meld . Considering the fact that we ’re talking about cobbling together a high - powered laser out of several laser cursor , it would still probably take a becoming amount of clip to cut through someone ’s wit .

Blasting mental capacity with optical maser is a burgeon proficiency in the field of neuroscience . In belittled social disease , beams of optical maser light can actually set off head activity andeven curative pain . Tim Spellman , a postdoctoral cuss in neuroscience at Columbia , spend his sidereal day shoot lasers at mouse wit for the sake of medical research . However , he ’s also acutely aware that the sustained mien of high - powered laser could do substantial damage to the nous .

“ Basically you ’re cash in one’s chips to have to heat the tissue enough to hit the ceiling fat , since the wit is mostly fat — that ’s anywhere from 300 to 500 degrees , ” Spellman enunciate in an electronic mail . “ But how tight that will come about in an existent human mental capacity is something you wo n’t live until you try . But my hypothesis is tens of seconds or even moment . ”

So How Many Laser Pointers Would It Take?

So we ’ve determined that optical maser pointers could be focused through a lense to create a more powerful beam given the right circumstances . We ’ve also determined that a richly - powered laser could burn through a persons middle and unthaw their learning ability given a long enough period of time . But just how big would this optical maser pointer rig have to be ?

Pretty big , allot to Rebecca Thompson of the American Physical Society . When we require Thompson , who nurse a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas , the morbid interrogation about decease and laser pointer , she grind some numbers and double - hold in her workplace . It ’s worth quote her response at length :

For a laser to toss off someone it essentially take to be blistering enough to boil or combust the tissue . It would take about a 1kW optical maser to boil through someone ’s oculus to their brain in a fair amount of fourth dimension , meaning they probably could n’t get forth . Each qat miniature level laser pointer is roughly 5mW. It would take 200,000 laser pointers all focusing through a lens to an exact point to create a laser powerful enough to stamp out . Each optical maser Spanish pointer ( assuming the ones from laser pen since the penitentiary tip is smaller than the cat toy laser ) is 5 millimeter across . So if you had 200,000 of them they would be in a grid about 7 ’ x7 ’ . To get them to rivet on a undivided spot , though , they would demand to be in a semi circle with a r of about 5.5 ’ . So if you wanted to make a expiry re with optical maser pointers , you could buy 200,000 optical maser pointer , mount up them on a part of a sphere with radius 5.5 ’ , aim them all through a lens and inquire your dupe to seat very , very still .

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And how accurate would the shot have to be ?

Focusing through the optic and to the brain would be the easy for sure but it would take a reasonably precise hit to ensure the soul died . The psyche stem turn is right there but it would have to burn through just .

So there you have it . Just mount 200,000 laser pointers on an orb the size of it of a small car , focus their irradiation focused through a special lens , and point just at an immobilized person ’s wit stem . And you ’ve got yourself a laser pointer - power death shaft of light .

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