laser radiation.... what can it do?

i have a question for the pro's at this site... i have a 90 mw green laser and when im in a dark room and i shine it at a white surface it reflects back and lights up the room i dont see the dot but if i keep the laser perfectly steady i can see millions of little dots everywhere. i was wondering if the reflection of the laser radiation could be bad for me? :-?

Its not like dangerous radiation at all, your monitor puts out more dangerous radioation then that, all the little dot pattern is because it is polarized which is essentialy what a laser is. The light on the other hand can be harmeful but not by looking at the dot, its like looking at a light bulb it wont damadge your vision. If the beam were to shine in your eye tho you would get permenant eye damadge from it.

...lazer... ;D ;D ;D

With 90 mW you need to be very careful with beam reflections. You can damage your retina FASTER than you can blink in response. The reflection from non-specular surfaces is usually ok, but you really need to know where your beam is and what it could be reflecting off of at all times. You can also get some inexpensive (compared to a seeing eye dog) safety glasses from a number of places that are specifically for the green (usually 532nm) wavelengths. Also be very careful about other people, and animals. 90mW isn't at the top of the heap in terms of power available to laser hobbyists - but it's enough to put a quick end to your hobby if you aren't very careful.

That said - if you really learn how to be safe with these things - you can find all sorts of cool stuff to do! Have fun & welcome!

Dave

At 90mW , I do belive that staring at the dot is harmful.Looking at a light bulb can be just as harmful.If you have no safety glasses and you're (for example) trying to burn stuff, and you're looking at the dot for a good 30 seconds you'll realize that your eye will start to hurt.This could do long term damage to your vision, so basicly the point being: if it hurts, don't do it, the pain is there for a reason.

Agreed, not gonna happen in an instant, but looking at a 90mW dot isn't good for more than a couple seconds.

I have a problem too, when im using (DX) laser for about ~3 minutes, i feel really bad, i mean its like sickness or vomit :x.. Strange feeling, I dont look at the dot, but anyway it happens.. Maybe someone can explain why that happens to me?

I think we're confusing "radiation" - the TV/movie term, with "radiation" - the scientific term.

In the real world, "laser radiation" refers to EM radiation, "electromagnetic radiation". EM includes a bunch of stuff, from visible light, to radio waves, to x rays, etc. Light from a lightbulb, light from the sun, hell, light in general is EM radiation. If you see ANYTHING, you're exposing yourself to EM radiation. Nothing wrong with that though!

In movies, radiation is often taken to mean the stuff from nuclear bombs and all. That includes alpha and beta radiation, which are completely unrelated, and gamma radiation, which actually is a type of EM radiation.

Now, with a laser you're not dealing with gamma radiation, you're normally dealing with light in the UV, visible, and infrared spectrum. UV light CAN cause problems: cancerous mutations and the like. Visible radiation, like a green laser, is a different story though.

Green/visible light lasers ARE dangerous because they pack a lot of energy - burning power - into a small area. That can burn your eyes, or even skin with enough power. Same with any other intense light though. Its not "radiation" like the stuff you need to put lead shields up for in movies.

But I didnt get an answer to my question :-[

yes u did

pseudonomen137 answered your question like a pro

i couldnt have answered it better than him.

bledis said:

I have a problem too, when im using (DX) laser for about ~3 minutes, i feel really bad, i mean its like sickness or vomit :x.. Strange feeling, I dont look at the dot, but anyway it happens.. Maybe someone can explain why that happens to me?

Click to expand...

If you keep staring at that intense of a spot your eyes aren't gunna be able to focus like normal. When you look into a camera flash your vision gets screwed up for a few seconds/minutes. Looking at a greenies spot is like doing that to just a small part of your vision, but apparently for a continuous 3 minutes in your case. Not gunna cause permanent damage, but its enough to give you a headache of make you nauseas.

More of the story: don't be a bonehead! If it makes you feel sick, stop doing it! Hopefully that's logical enough. If you really feel you need to stare at your laser's dot for 3 minutes at a time, send me $46.75 and I'll ship you out a pair of lasershade protection goggles (if you're in the US)

I really not looking at the beam spot!!! Just only once to target it somewhere and thats it, im moving my eyes to another side to not look.. I dunno why i feel bad, but I cant stop playing with them!!! Im addicted, and believe me, in our country 47$ for goggles its A LOT. Btw I saw in metacafe how to make goggles myself, ill try some day if that helps..

Maybe (since you are using a rather powerfull DX laser) your problem is related to the IR leakage.As DX lasers are known not to have IR filters, eventhough you think you're not exposing your eyes to anything dangerous, you get hit by IR light.The IR leaking from your laser isn't like the green beam, it's not collimated properly, it has A LOT of scatter that can still unknowingly mess with your eyes when you think you're protected(even if you don't see the green dot) and give you headaches.That makes some sense.

Switch said:

Maybe (since you are using a rather powerfull DX laser) your problem is related to the IR leakage.As DX lasers are known not to have IR filters, eventhough you think you're not exposing your eyes to anything dangerous, you get hit by IR light.The IR leaking from your laser isn't like the green beam, it's not collimated properly, it has A LOT of scatter that can still unknowingly mess with your eyes when you think you're protected(even if you don't see the green dot) and give you headaches.That makes some sense.

Click to expand...

No.

This whole IR leakage being dangerous deal... overplayed hype. IR can be harmful, no doubt about that, but the green is MUCH more the issue here.

Re: Those little light and dark dots...

Those little light and dark dots are interference patterns, and if you tilt your head the dots move the same way, they can cause motion sickness and other effects we humans suffer from, but unless they are very very bright they will do no real harm other than make you worry. put a laser through a lens to spread out the light and project it on a wall, you will see tiny black dots I speak of, they won't harm you and you can see the head tip thing. LOL ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
If you need an IR filter Nova Lasers and others have them pretty cheap!