Lasers can be used for many things, measurement, drilling, surgery, projectors and more. But they can also be a lot of fun, in this video you get to see a powerful blue laser pop 100 balloons in a row.
Watch A Laser Tear Through 100 Balloons In One Shot
Johny
Johny (John-Erik) Krahbichler is the CEO and main author of Gadgetzz, since 2009. While Mr. Krahbichler's expertise is in consumer electronics, his true passion is science´, and educating the world about the universe we inhabit. Check out the non-profit Scientific Literacy Matters Currently Johny is using his experience from covering trade shows such as the CES, to work with trade show exhibition marketing.
My question is why do the balloons burst in sequence? Why not all at the same time? I thought a laser beam was a concentrated ray of light, and that light travels at what appears to us as instantaneous speed. So I would have predicted that all balloons would have popped simultaneously. Do you know the answer?
The delay is because of the time it takes the laser to heat the balloon to its melting point.
The full intensity of the beam only affects the closest balloon to the laser.
While traveling to the balloon at a seemingly infinite pace, it takes a finite amount of time to burn through a layer of plastic. It happens quickly but if you use a magnifying glass in sunlight to light something on fire it doesn’t happen instantly, the material being hit with the light still needs to heat up.