- Joined
- May 24, 2013
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Hello All,
Thanks for reading, and let me first start by saying that I know very nearly nothing about lasers. But I have an idea for a project including lasers and crystals to illustrate the idea of refraction. Here's my plan:
- Build an open cage from wood (just 1x1 plywood on top and bottom held up by dowels.)
- Suspend a high-optical quality crystal from a thin string or fishing line from the top of the cage
- Build small wooden stand for laser pointer and direct the beam into the crystal
- People can play with the crystal, moving it through the laser and watching as the light is absorbed and diffracts.
My questions:
- Would this be even remotely safe?
- Would I basically just need the lowest powered laser pointer I could find to produce light, since I don't need it to actually 'do' anything?
- What kind of lasers could I use for different colors? I think it would be nice to eventually have something like this with different colored lasers interacting in the same crystal to produce interesting light effects.
- What am I not considering here? The amount I don't know about lasers could fill an ocean...
I appreciate any insight and expertise you can provide. Thanks again!
Thanks for reading, and let me first start by saying that I know very nearly nothing about lasers. But I have an idea for a project including lasers and crystals to illustrate the idea of refraction. Here's my plan:
- Build an open cage from wood (just 1x1 plywood on top and bottom held up by dowels.)
- Suspend a high-optical quality crystal from a thin string or fishing line from the top of the cage
- Build small wooden stand for laser pointer and direct the beam into the crystal
- People can play with the crystal, moving it through the laser and watching as the light is absorbed and diffracts.
My questions:
- Would this be even remotely safe?
- Would I basically just need the lowest powered laser pointer I could find to produce light, since I don't need it to actually 'do' anything?
- What kind of lasers could I use for different colors? I think it would be nice to eventually have something like this with different colored lasers interacting in the same crystal to produce interesting light effects.
- What am I not considering here? The amount I don't know about lasers could fill an ocean...
I appreciate any insight and expertise you can provide. Thanks again!