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FrozenGate by Avery

what is the most dangerous colour laser ?

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Well that question sucked. However, the most dangerous laser, I believe, would be IR because people could think that you're playing with a little 1mw red laser and really your packing 2w of power. It would still be able to burn things but is barely visable. Other than that, my educated guess would be green or 532nm. I say this because it is the most visable mass produced laser color so it getting into your eye could damage the muscles in your iris more than it would if you had taken a hit to the eye from the same powered laser of a different color. However, I'm not completely sure about that, I'm going to school to be a surgeon, not an Optometrist.
 
Most dangerous I would say would be IR. You just don't find the ultra low UV wavelengths in handhelds so that kind of rules those out of being included in this question.

The visible spectrum triggers the blink reflex so that's why all the other colors would not be considered the "Most" dangerous
 
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Well being in the way of the military's laser that shoots down projectiles, or one of the giant building size lasers would be the worst...We know you're talking about a handheld :)
 
Even among the handhelds the most dangerous are IR pointers for the reasons mentioned above (there are handheld pointers> 2W).
Among the visible beams, I think that UV lasers are the the most dangerous, since even the skin is very sensitive :)
 
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Blue is also dangerous as it too looks less bright then it really is, and it's more readily absorbed by skin or retina. Infra kinda goes through .. on the other hand it's much less visible, is it has to be the winner.
 
ANY color of laser is capable of being dangerous, it all depends on the power and the beam is focused.

Collimated laser beams of visible and near-infrared light are especially dangerous at relatively low powers because the lens focuses the light onto a tiny spot on the retina.

Is clear to have ESPECIL ATENTION of IR laser because our eye does not see the beam, and obviously we can be exposed without realizing it. But I repeat, any color is dangerous if it exceeds an amount of power expressed in W/cm2 or J/cm2

Here are some examples of possible damage from a laser depending on their wavelength.

315–400 nm (UV-A) photochemical cataract (clouding of the eye lens)

400–780 nm (visible) photochemical damage to the retina, retinal burn

780–1400 nm (near-IR) cataract, retinal burn
 
Piferal has it right.
No wavelength is any more dangerous than any other unless there is some power to it and the power density is high enough for damage.

Think of it this way:
The sun provides about 1.2kW/m^2 of light from ~380nm to infrared. The earth itself is radiating many millions of Watts of infrared itself (blackbody radiation).
So why don't we go blind or melt immediately when we walk outside on a sunny day?
 
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Well but would you agree, that 200mW IR is more dangerous than 200mW red. green or blue ?
 
I think saying IR is wrong in this case... IR does not have a color.

Out of the visible colors, blue, ~445nm is probably the most dangerous since it's absorbed so well, however going by absorption, shorter 405 purple would be even worse...
 
I don't think that the OP is talking about being tied up and having your eyelids forced open and having each different laser pointed at your eyeball. Just the general consensus of what pointer wavelength is the most dangerous.

A pellet gun could kill you if you have an open hole in your head going straight to your brain, and you shot into it. I know this is farfetched but still...
 
While shorter wave length (indicating higher frequency) are generally thought to contain more energy, it is dependant upon what you are actually measuring. Basicly (sp?), a Watt of energy is a Watt of energy. Over what surface area is exposed, what is the absorbtion capability of the target, what is exposure time. High frequency UV (shortwave, and, some say, medium wave), does a lot of damage to all kinds of cells, but is easily blocked by common glass (soda glass and borosilicate). On the other end of this part of the spectrum (visible light?), detection and absorbtion of Infrared is what makes us feel heat. It is also stated some where that the near U.V.s (violet?) causes a chemical reactioon within the eye that builds and builds (sounds nasty).

I would guess that any thing which approaches the bounde of a 'visible' band would be more dangerous than the visible stuff.

B.T.W. Very intelligent question. shows live and working brain cells, looking for an answer to an important question/issue.
 
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it's either 405/445nm, or ir as the winner, depending how you look at it.

IR isn't detected easily (very high wavelengths at all) by the human eye, and can cause instant eye damage at high powers before you can blink.

405/445nm can damage eyes AND burn all skin types.

Someone can make a final call or it's a toss-up

EDIT* IR can burn all skin types too though, can't it?
 
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