My laser can hit clouds? 0.o

[Hislordship]

Hello, last night i was pointing at the sky with my 30-35mw green laser pointer and i noticed i was able to hit clouds......

I don't think this is possible with a 30mw laser?

As for my laser.. i am not sure what power output it has because i don't have a LPM and the laser doesn't have a clear discription on it.. all it says is <1000mw which it doesn't even come close to..

I guess it is a 30mw because all it can do is melt thin dark plastic like garbage bags from really close range and have a very vissible beam at night and a less vissible beam in a dim lit room..

Now i have pointed it at clouds before but was never able to hit one untill last night..

My question is.. is it possible that i can hit clouds with 30mw? or could it be possible my laser is somehow way stronger eventhough it can't burn anything?

 

[DJNY]

Yes, it´s possible. The cumulus humilis for example can get as low as 500 meters (1500ft).

 

[Hislordship]

aw i didn't know that thanks for the reply!
Guess this was kind of stupid question then haha to bad i was hoping my laser would turn out to be waaay stronger then i thought ^^

 

[hwang21]

Haha I would say your laser is no more than 50mW, at around 50mW you can start to pop black balloons and stuff. Also, be careful of IR leak... search the Forum for info on that. But yes, it is definitely possible to "hit" the clouds with your laser :beer:

 

[Hislordship]

I will buy a black balloon when i see one just to see if my laser can pop it ^^

But... i was just reading online about the IR leak in cheap green pointers...
This really scared me a bit..

Cuz not that long ago i had bad vision for about an hour from staring at the green dot from to close for 10-20 seconds...(This was before i was even aware that i need safety goggles for this laser pointer)

My laser has a warning label which says ''This product complies with 21 CFR''
So i guess that would mean that a IR filter is in it?
Then again... it also says ''Max output power <1000mW'' and if it would really comply to any law it seems strange that it doesn't say what the real output power is..

Also it says ''avoid Oirect eye contact'' instead of ''Direct'' ... so i'm guessing... the whole warning label is a fake... this is why i am kind of scared it might leak IR..

 

[hwang21]

Yes it most likely will leak IR. Just ignore the warning label, it's useless. If you looked directly into the beam, I would say go see a doctor.

 

[Hislordship]

Luckily i did not do that ^^ i looked at the dot from close range..but my vision seems normal now.. only my left eye is a bit worse then right
but that i think is because i've been wearing my lenses for almost 2 months to long hehe...

 

[hwang21]

Oh ok yeah looking at the dot on the wall from close range is ok for lasers below 500mW of any wavelength. I would venture to guess that your laser is around 30mW green and 20mW IR if it is actually putting out 50mW. I have seen 20mW lasers burn through black trash bags when focused well, however, so it depends.

 

[Hislordship]

well that's a relieve .... here i was worrying that i could have maybe damaged my eye's :S

 

[jimmyoneeye]

My older brother left his contact lenses in a few months. Something like, your eye can grow around the lens. Nearly required surgery. You should get those lenses out.

 

[Shakenawake]

technically hwang is right about viewing the dot under 500mW, but I personally feel better with lower powers, I mean, a 499mW 532nm is really damn bright

 

[hwang21]

Of course^ I would still recommend safety goggles for any laser over 5mW, as it is way too easy to get the laser to hit a reflective surface. But to be technical, dot viewing should be safe for <500mW visible radiation

 

[Blaster]

As to ball park power take your laser fresh batteries ,being a DPSS green you want to get it warmed up for a minute first and get to average power before you test ,then point it at your skin on your arm from close distance 2 cm if it stings virtually straight away 125mW plus in about 5 seconds it's about 100mW if it gets warm after 5 to ten seconds its maybe 50mW if it doesn't do either and its bright at nite can see in dim light its about 30mW other may have different ball park figures ,but using my lasers and my LPM i have those seem to be about the markers for basic power lvls..this is not focussed just a reasonabley thin beam without much divergence ie not a big blob of light on a wall 5 meters away but a small spot ..obviously never do this if you know its a high power laser only if you want a ball park figure and you know its somwewhere from 20 to 100mW