Laser radiation question

[CheetahHugger]

I am a bit worried about the experiments of my current roommate, i know
he is a very competent engineer but he has the habit of playing with lasers.
Now he has a dvd burner laser inside a penlight housing which can reach
across the park here (and that's VERY far, but i'm worried about he (or
me) accidently staring into the beam and i can imagine if it burns dvd's
it will burn eyeballs, or not?
So, my question is if there are glasses... one can use to protect from
laser radiation.
Or am i on a wild goose chase and is it not as bad as i hear everywhere?

Cheetah

 

[Smitty Two]

I am a bit worried about the experiments of my current roommate, i know
he is a very competent engineer but he has the habit of playing with lasers.
Now he has a dvd burner laser inside a penlight housing which can reach
across the park here (and that's VERY far, but i'm worried about he (or
me) accidently staring into the beam and i can imagine if it burns dvd's
it will burn eyeballs, or not?
So, my question is if there are glasses... one can use to protect from
laser radiation.
Or am i on a wild goose chase and is it not as bad as i hear everywhere?

Cheetah

Oh yeah, get the glasses. They're cheap, especially compared to an
eyeball. We do some serious laser stuff at work, and the joke goes that
you only get to see a laser once with each eye. Looking at it from the
side is not a problem, but things happen. The door is locked and the big
red warning light is on when the laser range is active. Absolutely
foolish to **** with the thing in a public park.

 

[CheetahHugger]

Thanks for the advice, so what kind of glasses and where can we buy
those, ebay?

Cheetah

"have you counted your spots today?"

 

[James Sweet]

I am a bit worried about the experiments of my current roommate, i know he
is a very competent engineer but he has the habit of playing with lasers.
Now he has a dvd burner laser inside a penlight housing which can reach
across the park here (and that's VERY far, but i'm worried about he (or
me) accidently staring into the beam and i can imagine if it burns dvd's
it will burn eyeballs, or not?
So, my question is if there are glasses... one can use to protect from
laser radiation.
Or am i on a wild goose chase and is it not as bad as i hear everywhere?

Cheetah

A DVD burner laser is definitely capable of serious eye damage. Ordinary
laser pointers are pretty harmless but something like he's put together is
illegal to point around outside, it can cause retinal burns faster than you
can blink or look away. It takes quite a bit of damage before you start to
notice anything is wrong.

 

[CheetahHugger]

And is he right about the dvd writer laser being 100mw and the dvd
reader only 5mw?
And cd burner and reader lasers are invisible (but i do see them glow red)?

Cheetah

 

[James Sweet]

And is he right about the dvd writer laser being 100mw and the dvd reader
only 5mw?
And cd burner and reader lasers are invisible (but i do see them glow
red)?

Cheetah

Yes that's about right. Some DVD burner lasers can be pushed to around
250mW.

CD lasers are *near* infrared, you can see them but they look FAR dimmer
than they are. They're still just as damaging, watt for watt.

 

[Morse]

Yes that's about right. Some DVD burner lasers can be pushed to around
250mW.

CD lasers are *near* infrared, you can see them but they look FAR dimmer
than they are. They're still just as damaging, watt for watt.

I'd suggest IR lasers are more dangerous than visible light lasers- at
least with the latter there's a chance one's blink reflex will minimise the
damage. You don't get that luxury with infrared lasers!

Morse

 

[Morse]

I am a bit worried about the experiments of my current roommate, i know he
is a very competent engineer but he has the habit of playing with lasers.
Now he has a dvd burner laser inside a penlight housing which can reach
across the park here (and that's VERY far, but i'm worried about he (or
me) accidently staring into the beam and i can imagine if it burns dvd's
it will burn eyeballs, or not?

Lasers found in recent DVD writers are in excess of 100mW and will destroy
parts of the retina in a fraction of a second, you won't get a second chance
and it won't heal. They can burn paper, melt plastic, light matches and
burst balloons etc so imagine what happens when the beam is focused onto a
retina...

Your friend should already know or have researched this if he's a 'very
competent engineer', and he wouldn't be flashing it around outside! Lasers
are not a sensible pasttime for the unwary or those cavalier about safety.

Morse

 

[G]

Oh yeah, get the glasses. They're cheap, especially compared to an
eyeball. We do some serious laser stuff at work, and the joke goes that
you only get to see a laser once with each eye. Looking at it from the
side is not a problem, but things happen. The door is locked and the big
red warning light is on when the laser range is active. Absolutely
foolish to **** with the thing in a public park.

I'm sure the glasses have to be for a specific wavelength.
I would imagine the CD lasers are near red radiation, but
it depends on the receptors best wavelength to transmit
power.

I was playing around with a blue laser, 100 mw a couple weeks ago.
Not really playing around, but was interesting and cost about $15K.

Those green pen lasers are pretty cheap now, and are
great for fooling around pointing at night. much brighter than red, and my
red 535nm laser is the brightest red I have. I do want to get my own green.

Playing around with high powered lasers is about like pointing a BB gun
around.
Don't put their eyes out !!

greg

 

[Sam Goldwasser]

I am a bit worried about the experiments of my current roommate, i
know he is a very competent engineer but he has the habit of playing
with lasers.
Now he has a dvd burner laser inside a penlight housing which can
reach across the park here (and that's VERY far, but i'm worried about
he (or me) accidently staring into the beam and i can imagine if it
burns dvd's it will burn eyeballs, or not?
So, my question is if there are glasses... one can use to protect from
laser radiation.
Or am i on a wild goose chase and is it not as bad as i hear everywhere?

You're correct to be worried. DVD burner laser diodes can be as much
as 50 times more powerful than a legal laser pointer (5 mW).

Even a momentary flash in the eye at close range can cause permanent
damage.

There are laser safety goggles that can be worn, but they aren't cheap
or terribly fashionable.

More in the Laser FAQ.

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is
ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the
subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

 

[Jim Yanik]

Thanks for the advice, so what kind of glasses and where can we buy
those, ebay?

Cheetah

"have you counted your spots today?"

try Edmund Scientific,www.edsci.com. they will not be "cheap".

 

[CheetahHugger]

Thanks for the advice everybody, we will act accordingly and get
adequate eye protection before continuing any experiments.

Cheetah

 

[Paul Feaker]

I am a bit worried about the experiments of my current roommate, i know he
is a very competent engineer but he has the habit of playing with lasers.
Now he has a dvd burner laser inside a penlight housing which can reach
across the park here (and that's VERY far, but i'm worried about he (or
me) accidently staring into the beam and i can imagine if it burns dvd's
it will burn eyeballs, or not?
So, my question is if there are glasses... one can use to protect from
laser radiation.
Or am i on a wild goose chase and is it not as bad as i hear everywhere?

Cheetah

He's an idiot and an asshole and so are you for posting off topic messages.

I have sent an abuse complant to [email protected].

 

[Paul Feaker]

A DVD burner laser is definitely capable of serious eye damage. Ordinary
laser pointers are pretty harmless but something like he's put together is
illegal to point around outside, it can cause retinal burns faster than
you can blink or look away. It takes quite a bit of damage before you
start to notice anything is wrong.

Abuse complant sent to: [email protected].

Reason: responding to an off topic post, therefore, spamming a newsgroup.

 

[Paul Feaker]

I'd suggest IR lasers are more dangerous than visible light lasers- at
least with the latter there's a chance one's blink reflex will minimise
the damage. You don't get that luxury with infrared lasers!

Morse

Forwarded to [email protected] for SPAMming a newsgroup.

 

[Paul Feaker]

I'm sure the glasses have to be for a specific wavelength.
I would imagine the CD lasers are near red radiation, but
it depends on the receptors best wavelength to transmit
power.

I was playing around with a blue laser, 100 mw a couple weeks ago.
Not really playing around, but was interesting and cost about $15K.

Those green pen lasers are pretty cheap now, and are
great for fooling around pointing at night. much brighter than red, and my
red 535nm laser is the brightest red I have. I do want to get my own
green.

Playing around with high powered lasers is about like pointing a BB gun
around.
Don't put their eyes out !!

greg

Forwarded to [email protected]

Reason: Participating in spamming a newsgroup.

 

[Paul Feaker]

You're correct to be worried. DVD burner laser diodes can be as much
as 50 times more powerful than a legal laser pointer (5 mW).

Even a momentary flash in the eye at close range can cause permanent
damage.

There are laser safety goggles that can be worn, but they aren't cheap
or terribly fashionable.

More in the Laser FAQ.

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above
is
ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included
in the
subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

Forwarded to: [email protected]

Reason: Replying to SPAM in newsgroup and additionally SPAMming newsgroup
with URL.

 

[Smitty Two]

Abuse complant sent to: [email protected].

Reason: responding to an off topic post, therefore, spamming a newsgroup.

Abuse complaint sent to Daffy Duck.

Reason: pretending to be the moderator of s.e.r.

 

[Paul Feaker]

Abuse complaint sent to Daffy Duck.

Reason: pretending to be the moderator of s.e.r.

Abuse complant sent to [email protected]

Reason: insulting another member, using an Earthlink e-mail address
through another server ( a serious t.o.s. violation) and participating
in SPAM.

 

[Lynn]

Abuse complaint sent to Daffy Duck.

Reason: pretending to be the moderator of s.e.r.

HE IS THE MODERATOR OF S.E.R. YOU STUPID FAGGOT.