Geodes & EU members selling green lasers?

[Fraggle]

Just joined and having fun going through the various threads, been reading page after page after thread, and jumping off to Google / Wikipedia looking up all the terms and soaking up all the knowledge I can glean by lurking.

I like learning new stuff.

One thing I'd like to ask is are there any EU members who sell green lasers? 150mW or so will be fine, not looking to set the cat on fire here. I've already bitten the bullet and ordered a blue + goggles + bats/charger.

Also has anyone shone a laser into a geode? I would have though if you have a really nice clean geode, the reflections from the crystals inside it, and the shape causing the light to bounce from side to side before exiting, should produce rather spectacular effects, even more so if you shine a few colours in at once.

For now I'm enjoying playing with reflecting off different surfaces (45 deg angle, natch), and seeing the different diffraction patterns they produce - even the so called highly polished metals.

And I've also got a glass topped coffee table which is great for actually seeing the green beam bounce internally for a good 10 ~ 20cm inside the glass

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Re: I'm an EU sponge!

I wouldn't shine a laser into a geode unless you have some goggles on. You don't want the beam to reflect into your eye and blind you.

 

[Fraggle]

Re: I'm an EU sponge!

Of course usual safety procedures apply, but for something like that I imagine an R, G and B 1mW lasers should give an idea if it looks great or bad.

 

[daguin]

I have several colors of **LOW POWER** pointers on my desk
I shine them into my geodes all the time

The problem is actually finding green, blue, or violet pointers that are <5mW

No matter what they say on the sticker, the VAST majority of green, blue, and violet pointers are >5mw
Sometimes MUCH greater than 5mW
I have been through hundreds of "low power" pointers to find the ones that sit on my desk (or were given to grandsons)

Be VERY careful shining a laser into a geode
The risk of a specular reflection above 5mW is VERY real

Peace,
dave

 

[Fraggle]

I think I see why the cautious advice, I am certainly NOT thinking of or planning on shining the 150mW laser into a geode!

Maybe I should have started two threads to avoid confusion, but too late to do that now.

I've got a keyring pointer, roughly the size of an AAA battery that is <1mW, another old one that may be 2mW, and just got a "little" green one that is supposed to be 5mW but looks more like 25mW.

I'd be using the <1mW and 2mW to play around with, the other one is way too bright to risk reflection back to me.

Do your geodes reflect a lot internally or is it a few reflections and that's it? I don't have one so I don't know how dirty / clean the crystals are on the surface and internally.


Talking about a high powered laser aimed at a geode got me thinking about how it'd heat up. Rock first? Inside of crystal first? Entrance of primary beam first? Exit points? Edges and tips?

If I had an IR camera I'd experiment out of curiosity.

 

[daguin]

I think I see why the cautious advice, I am certainly NOT thinking of or planning on shining the 150mW laser into a geode!

Maybe I should have started two threads to avoid confusion, but too late to do that now.

I've got a keyring pointer, roughly the size of an AAA battery that is <1mW, another old one that may be 2mW, and just got a "little" green one that is supposed to be 5mW but looks more like 25mW.

I'd be using the <1mW and 2mW to play around with, the other one is way too bright to risk reflection back to me.

Do your geodes reflect a lot internally or is it a few reflections and that's it? I don't have one so I don't know how dirty / clean the crystals are on the surface and internally.


Talking about a high powered laser aimed at a geode got me thinking about how it'd heat up. Rock first? Inside of crystal first? Entrance of primary beam first? Exit points? Edges and tips?

If I had an IR camera I'd experiment out of curiosity.

You will see very little if any "internal" reflection
The power is too low to see the beam from the side
You will see the flashes of the beam being reflected back at you

I have a fair collection of geodes
From my desk here I can see, and shine my lasers at, 25
One of the most interesting reactions is with my violet (405nm) pointer
405nm is close enough to UV to cause the calcite and some of the agate to fluoresce

You're not going to be shining nearly enough light into a geode to "heat" the crysals

Peace,
dave

 

[Fraggle]

You will see very little if any "internal" reflection
The power is too low to see the beam from the side
You will see the flashes of the beam being reflected back at you

I have a fair collection of geodes
From my desk here I can see, and shine my lasers at, 25
One of the most interesting reactions is with my violet (405nm) pointer
405nm is close enough to UV to cause the calcite and some of the agate to fluoresce

You're not going to be shining nearly enough light into a geode to "heat" the crysals

Peace,
dave

Yeah, I don't expect to see the beam, I was thinking more of seeing the reflections, but am hoping that the internal structure within the geode would cause the beam to bounce and split, so after they've been bounced around & split a couple of dozen times you could see literally dozens or hundreds of reflections.

Fluorescing them sounds fun too.

Yes, I doubt I'm ever going to have anything capable of heating up a rock. I guess a 60~100W CO would do it but you'd need a very pure / clean geode I imagine. (if they exist - and I wouldn't want to be the wrong side of the perspex shield if it hit a dirty crystal and shattered it)
(as you can tell, I've zero experience of high powered lasers and right now I'll happily keep it that way and read about others exploits )