I know lots of us like to burn stuff.. thats a given... set a match up across the room and try to focus the lens so that it will ignite. Light a candle... Burn through solid plastic objects... CD jewel cases... Set up an array of mirrors that will create a cool web of light effect...

What are some of the cool things you guys do with your lasers?

Astronomy/star gazing

burning/looking at beam at night ect im just fascinated with energy and stuff and lasers were always cool

I wonder if anyone has ever lit gasoline with a laser...or if that's possible to ignite a flameable liquid. I've been thinking about getting out the wd40 and see what's possible, just cause I'm curious.

But for the most part im not into burning unless it's an insect I want to kill. I mostly enjoy shining my laser into the sky and different areas. It's kind of fun to drive around and find some open spaces to see the laser beam hit far off areas.

Right now my only powerful laser is a 1W Blue. I got a 300mW Green coming to me soon in the mail. I expect that to be brighter during the day and maybe more fun.

^You can light black powder with a laser

You can't, cause it doesn't absorb enough energy to raise the temperature to the ignition temperature.
You could, if you heat the environment enough, to the gasoline auto ignition temperature.

And, gasoline isn't flammable, only it's fumes are...

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I use lasers for burning, long-range illumination, pointing, experiments...

Only way you could ignite gasoline with a laser is if it's capable of ionizing air at it's focal point, or you put something in the beam and the gasoline fumes that absorbs the energy and converts it to heat.

I use lasers for this:

only have 2 words for this... BAD ASS!

Interesting. Thank you for Enlightening me. In the back of my head I really didn't think it was possible.

I enjoy building the lasers as much or more than using them.

Beyond charging GITD items and shining the beam into a hazy night's sky, I like to use my lasers to ignite flash paper. There were a couple threads a while back the put flash paper inside of jars and submerged them. The laser can penetrate the glass and ignites the paper. I think someone also put some inside a clear balloon. The black paper works the best with the 405 & 445s. Magic Tricks Supplier, Clown Supplies, Buy Smoke Bombs, Pirate Merchandise Sales

It's fun just experimenting to see what they can do.

@things - That is too cool!