fun with lasers
| February 10th, 2007I remember being in high school when the first laser pointers started popping up in classrooms, only they weren’t being used by the teachers. Mischievous students would slyly point them at the teachers bald spot, or their rear, and of course all of the class would laugh. I wanted one at first, but the novelty of a laser pointer soon faded away and they became more of a nuisance than anything. Well, a nuisance when people pointed them at me. I’ll admit, it’s still funny to see a someone walk around a room not knowing a laser dot is on them. I’m reminded of a hilarious Seinfeld episode where George is seemingly stalked by an unknown person who keeps pointing a laser at George, no matter where he seems to go in the city. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ll have to find it on DVD or keep watching the reruns.
I say all of this because I found out yesterday that the lasers you can get today are not the same ones available ten years ago! My friend Kent is a middle school science teacher and one of his students brought in a GREEN laser for Kent to demonstrate in class. The laser was so powerful that you could easily see the beam in a darkened room. Kent brought over the laser last night as well as several small mirrors. We used those as well as a glass of water to bounce the laser beam around. Here are some cool pictures that I took of us messing around with the laser:
Check out the beam bending through the water
Bouncing off of a mirror into the water
Reflecting off a mirror and then off of the surface of the water
Cat’s Cradle?
I’m both fascinated by the pictures and amused by the fact that you play with lasers in your spare time.