| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous |
Is there a cheap or easy to build laser that will ionize the air it travels through while not being huge like those lab lasers sometimes are? I would like to build two lasers that ionize two paths through the air, letting me zap electricity through them like a big tazer. | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (Sfield) |
To ionize an atom takes about 1.6 x 10-19 Joules. If your laser beam has an aperture of one square millimeter, and you want a beam that is 1 meter long, you will encounter 1,000 cubic millimeters of air, or one cubic centimeter. There are 6.02214199 x 10 23 molecules in 22.4 liters of air. Thus there are 2.68845625 x 1019 molecules of air in your beam. So, it would take 4.3 Joules to ionize every one of them. Normally there would be 500 to a couple thousand ions in that amount of air without the laser beam. The conductivity of air rises as the number of ions increases. Depending on the voltage you have available, you may not need to completely ionize the air to make it conductive enough to complete a circuit. Once you have completed the circuit, the current in the plasma will further ionize it. You will want to quickly shut off the current, however, as the arc will find the shortest path between the electrodes in a very short time. Suppose you want to have the laser on for a millisecond. The laser would need 4,300 watts to ionize the air for a meter. That's not a small laser, nor is it an easy one to build. | ||
| JEastman (Planetwatcher) New member Username: Planetwatcher Post Number: 1 Registered: 4-2006 |
Would it be possible to use the neg charge of two convergent lasers in the vaccuum of outerspace to power spaceships/sattelites from faraway? | ||
| JEastman (Planetwatcher) New member Username: Planetwatcher Post Number: 2 Registered: 4-2006 |
In that last post, I meant to ask:Would it be possible to use the neg charge of two convergent lasers in the vaccuum of outerspace to conduct electricity.Then,assuming that was possible, could that electricity be used to power spaceships/sattelites from faraway? | ||
| Simon Quellen Field (Sfield) Senior Member Username: Sfield Post Number: 1151 Registered: 12-2004 |
Lasers beams do not carry a charge, negative or otherwise. |
