How high can a laser beam go?

Question

If you did go outside a take a laser (a small hand laser) and pointed out into the sky, how far will it go?

Answer 1

Any light source will produce light that will travel forever until stopped by something. In outer space this means hitting an object (eg a planet) or getting absorbed by interstellar dust - in any event, a long way.

if we're talking about a little laser pointer here on earth, in the earth's atmosphere, there's plenty of dust and particulate matter in the air that will disperse the beam- generally within a few hundred yards. Maybe a mile for a better laser.
By the way, although a laser beam is relatively collimated, it is absolutely not the case that the beam does not spread out.In reality, a typical laser would project a spot maybe 50m across if shone at the moon

Answer 2

A laser is a pure ray of focussed light. Photons (light particles) travel in a straight line at the speed of light, never stopping, so theoretically so would your laser light.

However, as the laser gets further away from its source, the photons gradually start to deviate from the laser path through collision with other subatomic particles. This causes the laser beam to dissapate and get weaker as it loses photons. Since the power source that generated the laser beam isn't very powerful to begin with, the beam will dissapate to such an extent that it effectively doesn't exist anymore relatively soon. I'd say you are very unlikely to be able to measure anything by the time you reach the upper atmosphere. That's just a guess though. Without knowing the exact strength and nature of the light source, prevailing conditions, etc. One couldn't be sure.

Answer 3

they will travel forever into space until they hit something. It will reach the moon easily, but it will spread out to like a mile in diameter, and be very very dim, so you couldn't see it, even if you were on the moon.
You could aim the laser at a nearby wall and trace the circle, then aim it at a distant wall 100 feet or even 200 feet away, and ask someone to trace the circle. This will give you an idea how much the circle spreads out with distance.

Answer 4

No. Weaponised lasers might desire to be *very* powerful- the main important reason they at the instant are not yet getting used in wrestle is by way of the fact achievable capability supplies at the instant are not yet available. And getting this form of laser and capability source into orbit could be somewhat costly, and a unmarried laser might take many years to do away with the loads of things of area junk obtainable. in short, it purely isn't achievable.

Answer 5

be thier is a red light and i high beam hitting it so it goes to a laser beam, light

Answer 6

They have "lazered" to the moon to calculate its distance. That's already 250,000 miles away.