Practical Uses for Lasers?

Just wondering what some practical uses for lasers are. I'm surprised by how big this community is considering it just seems like beams of light that we pretty much just wave around, or burn things if we have enough power. I mean hell it's pretty damn cool, I'm doing it too, but still.

I know astronomy of course, pointing out stars and such, but can't see much else.

What brings you all here?

Lasers as in laser pointer or lasers in its broad sense?

Laser are awesome and can be used more many things :beer:

i.e: Protection(Though it has to be prettttty powerful), Presentations, Fun,Burning, See different wavelength and the list goes on : D

Well basically we are diode geeks that like different colors of light beams, as far as uses apart from what you said ,only two if your lost at night point it in the air for aircraft to see or other rescue ppl to see. Or as a cat chase toy using a very low power key chain laser or known low powered eBay pen ..which are scarce as most are overspec ...

Try using the search bar, before posting. You will find several people have already posted exactly the same thread...over and over.

Yes I searched and did not find much. And yeah I mainly meant laser pointers.

I see some people on here that have 20+ lasers and such, which seems crazy. Actually Blaster looks like you are one of them haha.

Well obviously you didnt. These took less than 2 seconds to find.

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/what-do-you-use-your-lasers-61918.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/what-do-you-use-your-laser-s-80828.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/all-possible-uses-lasers-56669.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/first-post-first-question-what-do-you-use-your-lasers-76409.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f40/what-s-different-use-different-colors-laser-pointers-74483.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/practical-uses-cool-science-stuff-77300.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/fun-impractical-uses-lasers-29977.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/weird-uses-lasers-50286.html



Oh and look someone even posted almost the exact same thread title as you...:tsk:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/practical-uses-laser-pointers-79837.html

and this one even covers what you just wrote...

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/what-exactly-do-you-use-300mw-laser-pointers-45886.html

Edit: Im sorely tempted to give you some red bars. Please be honest in future.

Moral of the story, search then ask or don't BS that you really tried to search.

In his defence, when I was new here I legitimately tried to search but some things just wouldn't appear to me! I guess ou need the right search terms :thinking:

NKO29 said:

In his defence, when I was new here I legitimately tried to search but some things just wouldn't appear to me! I guess ou need the right search terms :thinking:

Click to expand...

If it helps I typed in:

"practical use"
"uses lasers"
"what use"

etc. Maybe he needs a little more practice with the search bar. :beer:

If you care...one use i recently found out is DNA sequencing. A company called Biosystems (dunno if they still exist) made DNA sequencers that used Argon lasers. I know because i recently got one, just for the laser part. Other than that, there are lots of other medical uses.

surgery and stuff use lasers. they werent made for funzies... they do have MANY purposes. may not be obvious however

NKO29 said:

In his defence, when I was new here I legitimately tried to search but some things just wouldn't appear to me! I guess ou need the right search terms :thinking:

Click to expand...

On the one hand I understand where you are coming from. I was using the "search" feature at the top of the page and it's just not ... good. It searches each term individually and will pull random things that aren't related. It took me a while to even realize that there was a google bar at the bottom. Which brings me to the other hand.

I kept reading knowing that the answers I was looking for WERE there but I had to find them. It takes effort, and even in my short time here I can see why the vets get tired of saying the same things over again because as someone who wants to read to gather info its annoying to have to sift through the same 5 questions.

-"I want to buy..." Seeing this is painful. There are hundreds of these.

-"I want a green burner" You can replace the color with whatever tickles your fancy

-"I did .... will I go blind?" This one not as annoying, I actually credit the poster with understanding the dangers of lasers and seeking advice.

-" I want to... with lasers" Insert fantastical feat you can only accomplish with a pulsed laser in the kW range.

-"What's a good first laser" This one bothers me because if you have to ask you either haven't read anything or you are in denial. Either way you don't need to create a new thread.

I think I read somewhere that people are actually using them to burn bugs? Unless they were referring to something bigger when they said "pest control." I don't know, it sounds silly to me, but hey maybe it works. With glasses on of course, as just the reflection of the dot on a tiny spider could cause damage to your eyes.....

If the op just isn't answered at all they will get it. Instead of bashing them just leave the thread unanswered instead if starting a useless onslaught of older members venting on someone. Just read it, find that it's not worth answering, and move on. When the person sees that other posts are being answered and not their they will get the point . Some members are just instigating, I know they are tired of unworthy members, but there really is no need in making someone feel like they are being attacked. Now I'm not defending the annoying here, just maybe avoiding the three page thread of how tired people are of answering the same question. Obviously they are not getting tired of complaining about it.

tmackbb4 said:

If the op just isn't answered at all they will get it. Instead of bashing them just leave the thread unanswered instead if starting a useless onslaught of older members venting on someone. Just read it, find that it's not worth answering, and move on. When the person sees that other posts are being answered and not their they will get the point . Some members are just instigating, I know they are tired of unworthy members, but there really is no need in making someone feel like they are being attacked. Now I'm not defending the annoying here, just maybe avoiding the three page thread of how tired people are of answering the same question. Obviously they are not getting tired of complaining about it.

Click to expand...

I'm not trying to start a flame thread I hope noone especially the OP doesn't think that's what I was trying to do. I agree 100% with Mack, stop answering the dumb questions. They will search or leave. Safety concerns should be addressed but aside from that, I don't know why people entertain these questions.

I just wanted to let NKO29 know why the others (as well as myself) are frustrated. I don't waste my time with answering these questions.

Again like ignoring the trolls I think we should practice ignoring the indolent.

EDIT: edited term to fit better