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Killing a Fly with a laser

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BobDiaz

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So we've had hot weather in Southern California lately and my wife likes to leave the front door open so that the afternoon sea breezes cool down the house. That works, but flies come in too.

Yesterday I considered blinding them with my 25mW green laser. Interesting that the flies don't react to the laser. I assume that the small dot of the laser doesn't trigger a flight reaction because it's just too small. However, I'm now sure how much of the fly's vision I'm taking out. Even when hit, they still react to my hand.

My next step was to up the power to my 100mW green laser. I should add that I'm so glad I had my safety glasses on, because while trying to hit the fly, I hit a reflective surface and saw the flash. The safety glasses did their job and my eyes are OK. The money I paid for those safety glasses is SO worth it!!! :wave:

The flies do react to a 100mW beam. As soon as the beam hit their body, they took off. I can only assume that they feel the heat of the bean and react.

I'd love to up the power, but I haven't built the higher power laser yet. ....

So the question is has anyone ever been able to kill a fly with their laser?
 





Gabe

Gabe

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I've tried killing a spider with a focused 300mW red, and it's no easy task. You have to keep the dot on them long enough for it to heat up, and combust. Every time the dot went on it, it moved out of the way. The process took several minutes. I would imagine it would be several orders of magnitude harder with a fly. Plus it stinks like shít.
 
Lifetime17

Lifetime17

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Hi,
I tried that a dozen times there reaction is far swifter than you think. They can see the beam coming a mile away, remember a fly sees all around him in a kaleidoscope view. I tried 520nm,445nm,450nm,405nm but i never tried 808nm IR then again they still might detect it.

Rich :)

Hey theres a sure kill method , i bought a gun that shoots a shot of salt like a shotgun pattern. its called bug-a-salt lethal up to 3ft. when you hit them its so powerful it leaves a blood trail. This thing is really worth it. Ammo is plain table salt, remember salt is a very hard mineral so to a fly its like buckshot !!
 
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Gabe

Gabe

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Somebody here photoshop a pic of Mr. Miyagi from karate kid, but instead of him catchin a fly with chopsticks give him a laser instead
 
Alaskan

Alaskan

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So, does a fly fly if you hit it in the eyes and it can't see anymore? I was outside with my laser one night and a spider came crawling down on its web, on a single thread, lowering itself to the ground. Cruel mean unwarranted thing to do, but I flashed my beam at it and all it did was climb back up it's little silk string, I didn't spend much time trying to go after it, but it sure didn't fry it with a flash.
 
Benm

Benm

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Albeit a bit sadistic, the concept of how lasers would blind insect eyes is an interesting one. And the short answer is that it will not blind them effectively. They have facet eyes, essentially each eye is a collection of little eyes that point at slightly different angles, and you could only take out the ones looking directly into the laser, leaving the remainder intact.

Essentially the fly would have a few 'dead pixels', but not a burned out that would blind it to a great degree like a vertabrate eye would.

And for flies versus lasers: they will move if they feel the heat, no matter if you hit them in the eyes or the ass. It is not effective at killing them at all though, i've seen puffs of smoke coming off them after which they happily fly off. I prefer the electric squatter.

Don't be too sorry for the flies whatever you attempt though: common bugspray is harmless to mammals but for insects is basically nerve gas blocking muscle control which ends, like in vertabrates, in helpless suffocation.
 
Down with Umbrella

Down with Umbrella

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I draw the line at the house. When insects cross that threshold they are open season for swift judgement. For bugs, I use the 2.8W 445 WITH the appropriate PPE.
It won't burn the wooden floor easily but it seems to toast them quickly.
 
Pi R Squared

Pi R Squared

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I agree, any insect that comes inside is risking its life. I have killed one fly with my 1.5W 445nm, it died in a puff of smoke, it did take several tries to get it though, but I got a direct hit from only about 2 feet, not easy with a damn fly. I tried several times with Mosquitos and they just move to fast. I have 2 more powerful lasers now that work better, I recommend 2 or 3 watt, 1.5W is a little weak for this purpose.

Alan
 
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BobDiaz

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Many years back I brought a very powerful photo flash unit within a few inches of a fly and fired it. The light was so bright, it blinded the fly. I assume because it was from so many directions and so powerful, it knocked out the fly's vision. That sure made swatting the fly easier, the little thing didn't see me coming.
 
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Lifetime17

Lifetime17

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:eek::lasergun::gun:Now thats a cool story my man strobing a fly. Its like a flash bomb to it..
I wonder what Vincent Price would feel like :)
 
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Pman

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By the way, this reminds me of those electric fly swatted you can get at Harbor Freight. An uncle told me he inadvertently killed a couple remote controls getting it to close to them so be careful if you have one.
I remember when I was young my dad always had a couple of nasty plug-in ones that would fry just about anything. Doubt they make ones like that anymore without some serious safety around them.
 
Benm

Benm

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Down with Umbrella said:
I draw the line at the house. When insects cross that threshold they are open season for swift judgement. For bugs, I use the 2.8W 445 WITH the appropriate PPE.
It won't burn the wooden floor easily but it seems to toast them quickly.
Click to expand...

It's quite silly to chase after bugs with a laser like that. Even with eye protection chances are you will damage something eventually, or just set the drapes on fire. After the house burns down you'll have a talk with the insurance company that starts like

"Well, I was chasing this fly......" :D
 
paul1598419

paul1598419

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This is a nearly three year old thread. You just got here, but posting to old threads is frowned upon here. They are to be read, not necroposted.
 
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