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Think about this...

Alec

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Plasma, its hot and can cut through a lot of stuff...
Imagine a very powerful lasers, say ~10000Watt or something very powerful like that...
You put your superlasershades on, then you power up your super laser in a safe room. It heats up the gasses so it turns into plasma...
That would be so cool, basicly a lightsaber ahahah
 





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With laser output powers this large, I bet plasma has little to do with its cutting ability. Would not any substance hammered by enough photons eventually yield? Of course, the planet Mercury could be said to have been hammered by plenty of photons, and it still seems to stand. So maybe not.

An ionized substance is one where an electron is missing or added to give the molecule (or atom) a charge. Rusty water is brown because it contains ionized (aqueous, in this case) particles of iron. Not all ionized substances are plasma, but all substances in a state of plasma are all ionized and gaseous.

A bit of trivia: compared to the other states of matter, solid, liquid and gas, plasma is by far the most common state of matter in the universe. Our sun outweighs everything else in our solar system combined and is one bad ass ball of plasma.

Lasers that are strong enough to ionize the air (gas) are creating what is known as cold plasma. I think lightning is classified as cold plasma, too. Cold plasma is where only parts of the gas are ionized, meaning it’s localized. The plasma is very short lived. Like 0.00000000001 seconds. This kind of plasma isn’t famous for its cutting ability.

Plasma torches, on the other hand, completely ionize the gas passing through the system, and make what is known as hot (ass) plasma. If you’ve never used a plasma torch or seen one at work, you’ve really missed something remarkable. It cuts through metal like a hot knife cuts through butter. Working with one can make you feel like a deity.

Plasma torches form a tiny rocket engine at the tip. A gas is pumped through a small nozzle where an electrical charge is applied to the gas. The gas becomes ionized, expands rapidly and turns into plasma. Its temperature is like 30,000F and travels at 20,000 fps. The tip focuses the gas into a lovely little blue point about two inches long.

The gas used need not be anything special. Nitrogen, Oxygen and Argon are pretty common. I cannot say for sure, but I don’t think there isn’t any substance it can’t cut. These are not to be confused with Oxygen-Acetylene torches that burn the acetylene to reach temperatures of 6500F.

CO2 lasers (and many others in the IR range) can ionize gas and cause a popping sound, as that point of gas rapidly expands. I have even teased my children by suggesting that popping sound results from a teeny tiny supernova. But those lasers cut using the heat of the wavelength, not by their plasma making abilities.

Still, writing this post and thinking about lasers and plasma creates a pretty cool feeling in my head. This is a fun and thought provoking thread.
 
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I always thought a useful thing for laser induced plasma/ionization would be like a range plasma cutter. Could have a UV laser (UV ionizes best right?) and create a conductive channel of air between the plasma cutter tip and the metal and complete the circuit enough to strike a beam of plasma that would maintain its shape using internal magnetic confinement.
 
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Plasma can conduct electricity right?

One with such a laser could combine it with a lightning generator and direct a thunderbolt somewhere.

Maybe its not home feasible though.

Electrolaser - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plasma is VERY conductive.

The Laser-Induced Plasma Channel is a really cool idea. I can't wait until they have a handheld that does this. :D

The idea is a laser punches a whole through the air from point A to point B. And for a split second, there exists a tunnel between the two points containing ionized (conductive) air. Follow that up with a high voltage pulse, and ZAP, you get a wireless Taser gun. I want one!

I think we should start a GB feeler on this straight away. ;)
 

Alec

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I thought this up about a week ago in a rather boring science lesson :p
But if it could be conductive, there could be heaps of uses for it.
I hope one day something like this could be made... :)
 
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I thought this up about a week ago in a rather boring science lesson :p
But if it could be conductive, there could be heaps of uses for it.
I hope one day something like this could be made... :)

You can always try and ask "Aliens" im sure they have heaps of it for a low price :beer:
 
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image_zps3867ce1c.jpg

lmao i love this
 
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I thought this up about a week ago in a rather boring science lesson :p
But if it could be conductive, there could be heaps of uses for it.
I hope one day something like this could be made... :)

Yeah it could already be made, but the power levels are so high (I read somewhere that a pulsed UV laser would be up to the task... but nowhere on the miliwatt range ;)), and its quite a dangerous project, that I'm doubtful that it will be "available" soon..

Someone here have played "Infamous" on PS3? :beer:


lmao i love this
Thread is about laser induced plasma channels. Why do you post a "I like" to a funny post? :thinking:
 

Alec

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Sucks the silk roads got shut down, once I've imported 100's from the alians, I could of sold them xD
 
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I'm curious, once you introduced an electrical current to the plasma beam how would you keep it from flowing back into the laser. Also, lasers that create plasma normally work on very short bursts and only create plasma at the focal point. How would an electrical current react to a closed system of plasma? Wouldn't it dissipate once the plasma broke down?

I too have thought about how this would work and thought it would be neat. Could you ionize the air with a laser, not necessarily needing plasma? :thinking: If so what kind of powers would you need? And how would you protect the diode from the electrical current?
 
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I'm curious, once you introduced an electrical current to the plasma beam how would you keep it from flowing back into the laser. Also, lasers that create plasma normally work on very short bursts and only create plasma at the focal point. How would an electrical current react to a closed system of plasma? Wouldn't it dissipate once the plasma broke down?

I too have thought about how this would work and thought it would be neat. Could you ionize the air with a laser, not necessarily needing plasma? :thinking: If so what kind of powers would you need? And how would you protect the diode from the electrical current?

Maybe a quartz window? Its an insulator.

The laser, being powerful enough, would ionize the air, and that would be your (cold) plasma. You answered yourself on the first paragraph. Think power density.

Diode? Electrical currents? :tsk: At those power levels, you're looking for a chemical laser.
 
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