Got some green lasers and have question about how dangerous it could be?

[Spinninwheel87]

Hello! I am very new into lasers and have questions around it.

Just bought 2 used laser pointer that is over 10 years old, they using 2x aaa battery each, and if i point it on my skin, on paper or plastic it does not melt or not even feel slightly warm at all.

My conserns is how dangerous they could be. Only marking is the qc passed 3 sticker.

What can happen if one is slightly hitted in eye for example, or if one get it in eye from reflection when one point into metal or other items that reflect?

I have readed about ir radiation, what is that about when it comes to green laser?

Other questions i have around this after reading online got me a bit worried but i guess it have to be how strong they are offcorse.

Could the laser harm a monitor screen, or other electronic components if one kinda point directly into a pc case that is open?

Could the skin take any harm by been pointed on?

Last question is if it could be harmfull to Watch on the pointer near you when pointing on the wall, your hand etc?

Would Appreciate some answers alot so i get an idea how dangerous or not dangerous this is since some countries have banned the green type too.

Best Regards Ray.
Some pics i downscaled a bit to make it possible to post them here

 

[Gryphon]

These little green lasers can he hazardous because they are unfiltered and often way over spec. Sometimes they can reach 50-80mW which would be dangerous if you caught a reflection to the eye. Also, because they don't have IR filters (cheaper for the manufacturer to not use them) they will leak nearly as much invisible light that spreads out wider than the green beam. You make think your eyes are safe because you aren't being hit by the green light but you are in fact being blasted by just as much IR light that you cant see.

All that said, you can still use these safely if you are aware of the dangers and set yourself up for success before hand

 

[Spinninwheel87]

How much wider then the green beam can it be? Thought all light it send out was green, sounds a bit scary, Thanks for the warning though.

50-80mw i wasnt aware, i would guessed maby 5-10mw, because no heat or anything while toutching it?

Think i just have to store them until later, would normal glas filtrate it a bit or is it dangerous even trough glas?

Is there a way i can add something that make it less dangerous?

 

[Gryphon]

Depending on the age of the green laser it could be fairly low powered, I remember when RadioShack started carrying that style of laser pointer they were in fact low powered. All the DPSS green pens that can be had for ~$10 now a days are all over the place. I've got one that does 120mW, that's green and IR combined.

The first pic is that 120mW laser, it doesn't have and IR filter and all that purple noise is the IR light, think of it as an unfocused cone of invisible light fanning out around the green laser beam. The second picture is a much more expensive DPSS green laser that does have an IR filter. Perhaps more importantly you'll notice that even though these cheap laser glasses that have no problem blocking the green light, they still let all that invisible IR light straight through.

None of this is to scare you, just inform. Be smart, be safe and enjoy lasers!

 

[RedCowboy]

Anything over 5mw can cause injury to the retina because our eye's lens focuses incoming light to a tighter point on our retinas and the most sensitive part of our retinas is the fovea, this is where all our tightly packed receptors responsible for detailed vision are and it's a small spot/notch that you don't want to damage, so anything over 5mw needs to be handled carefully.

Remember to wear your laser safety glasses when ever appropriate.