Looking at beams?

[infinity8208]

Noob here... How safe would it be to look at a 100mW green laser beam at night? This seems like a stupid question, but after watching Styropyro's video on Green laser pointers and what they can do, I've come under the impression that you can safely look at the beam of a 50mW laser pointer and be safe without goggles. My specfic green laser is 80mW.

 

[diachi]

Perfectly safe.

As always, watch out for reflections from any reflective surfaces like polished metals, windows, so on.

 

[infinity8208]

Perfectly safe.

As always, watch out for reflections from any reflective surfaces like polished metals, windows, so on.

Yeah I also have a 1.6W blue laser... assuming this is totally NOT safe to look at under any circumstances

 

[hwang21]

If you are referring to a specular (metallic/mirror-like) reflection - that would be correct. Anything over 5mW shot directly into the eye/reflected into the eye is dangerous. It is even possible to suffer eye damage from looking at the *dot* too closely for Class IV lasers (>500mW). However, looking at the beam of a laser is generally safe (provided nothing flies into the beam while you're pointing it into the sky, like a nice big white moth - this has happened before)

 

[infinity8208]

If you are referring to a specular (metallic/mirror-like) reflection - that would be correct. Anything over 5mW shot directly into the eye/reflected into the eye is dangerous. It is even possible to suffer eye damage from looking at the *dot* too closely for Class IV lasers (>500mW). However, looking at the beam of a laser is generally safe (provided nothing flies into the beam while you're pointing it into the sky, like a nice big white moth - this has happened before)

this is good news, i assume the lasers will show the beam nicely. As for the 1.6W laser, whats the safety of looking at the beam of that?

 

[Snecho]

this is good news, i assume the lasers will show the beam nicely. As for the 1.6W laser, whats the safety of looking at the beam of that?

You can look at any beam of any visible beam laser without eye damage. Even 10 Watts, 20 Watts, and more.

Just as others have said, make sure there is ZERO chance of the beam hitting anything reflective

 

[steve001]

Noob here... How safe would it be to look at a 100mW green laser beam at night? This seems like a stupid question, but after watching Styropyro's video on Green laser pointers and what they can do, I've come under the impression that you can safely look at the beam of a 50mW laser pointer and be safe without goggles. My specfic green laser is 80mW.

I'm sure you've been outside on a bright sunny day looking around without a lasting problem. Any beam you might have easy access to pales in comparison to sunlight.
I've viewed a 25W argon laser beam. I only used one eye; thank God I have two. Just joking.