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Thread: baloon popping

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Default baloon popping

    Hi guys, I pulled out my 120mw Greenie this evening because I was reading where folks were souping up there laser pointers hitting 30 and 40mw and were able to pop baloons.

    I thought, cool I can impress the wife, if a 30mw laser would pop a baloon, certantly, a 120mw laser would be instant popping as if from a light saber. Really cool! :twisted:

    Well it is such a stupid thing to be disapointed in, but here I sit. While my laser will pop the baloon, it takes several seconds concentrated in the same spot.

    I checked the output power with a borrowed Coherent 210 power meter and I am reaching close to 150mw.

    So I ask ya, am I simply expecting too much? I mean my laser is 3 to 4 times more powerful, shouldn't it be more... um.... distructful? Is that a word? :lol:

  2. #2
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    Hi there !

    Many people say that they pop a ballon easy as THAT !
    But the truth is that the DOT from your laser need to be TINY as possible, and the ballon must be BLACK or any other dark colour !

    And it`s not true that a 30mW laser pop a ballon !!!

    I got a 60-80mW laser, and i must consentrate very much to pop a ballon with it !!

    I also got a 240mW laser, but the beam is so "big" that popping a ballon with it is almost impossible !

  3. #3
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    Nov 2005
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    Sweden
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    Default

    At about 2' I can pop baloons with my 100mW green. But it's not instant and it only work with dark colored baloons.
    You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!

  4. #4
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    SoCal
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    Default

    It takes 300mW with decent divergence to pop balloons reliably and scarily
    at a reasonable distance But it still won't pop clear and white balloons.

  5. #5
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    Default

    Agreed... I can pop red, orange and pink ballons at 1-10 feet away from my 100 mw DPSS green. (Lasever unit) I can't even think about doing that with my Argons... (They're all single-line blue, at 488 nm, and only 40-50 mw.)

    If I use a lens to focus the beam, I can pop other color balloons, but never white ones...

    Also, with a lens, I can light a kitchen match with my argon. But my DPSS unit will light a match without a lens! (Cool!)

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Buffo
    Agreed... I can pop red, orange and pink ballons at 1-10 feet away from my 100 mw DPSS green. (Lasever unit) I can't even think about doing that with my Argons... (They're all single-line blue, at 488 nm, and only 40-50 mw.)

    If I use a lens to focus the beam, I can pop other color balloons, but never white ones...

    Also, with a lens, I can light a kitchen match with my argon. But my DPSS unit will light a match without a lens! (Cool!)
    I am soooo gonna try that tonight... Too cool.

  7. #7
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    I've got a picture of the match-lighting trick on my website:

    http://home.sc.rr.com/buffo/optics.html

    Like I said, with the argon's I need to use a lens, but my 100 mw DPSS lights a match without a lens in less than a second!

  8. #8
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    http://home.monet.no/~bjornaro/diverse/

    click the file: Film.wmv 31-Dec-2004 00:56 935k

    That is a clip of me fire a match with my handheld DPSS 150mW

  9. #9
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    Liteglow;

    You might want to hold the match a little farther away from the head of your laser when you do that. Some of that smoke and sulfur is probably getting on your optics at that close range!

    Still - a very cool video!

    Adam

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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    That reminds me of a picture I saw in an ancient issue of National Geographic.

    "Cigarettes taste better when lit by laser" was the caption, and they were using a large argon unit...

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