About laser light?

Question

Can a laser light burn away small dust and even insect away?
In ordinary home?
Without burning human like puting it in front of the window and door and ventilation from the outside exit?
Or just to scare insect away by use of disco light or simply use light first and the laser will be activated everytime some insect passes by and burn the insect ?
Just a theory?

Answer 1

if using a laser light, be very careful not to reflect it outside. Someone I know was playing with one to see how far it went, a neighbor called the cops ,he got arrested and we had to go to the police station and he got arrested. Just a warning

Answer 2

Nyphdinmd already answered what I was going to answer, but I want to add this:

A laser strong enough to zap insects would cost about $1000 (a CO2 laser), but the gizmo that aims the laser by steering the beam would cost $10,000. I work with a 'steered beam' laser and the beam is steered by mirrors attached to galvanometers (like very fast servo-motors). That is the most high-tech part of the whole machine. This is the same technology they use for laser light shows.

Also, a laser that's strong enough to kill flies is going to leave little black marks on walls, etc. But you could put it in a sort of chamber and have it zap the fly as he flies through, like a bug-zapper. Maybe someday the technology will be cheap enough to do this!

Answer 3

Yes, you can use a laser to burn dust, bugs, etc. You can weld metal with a laser. However, these won't be small and they will be expensive so using them around the house isn't very practical. Then there is the eye safety issue. Even if teh laser doesn't burn human skin, if it is powerful enough even relfections from household objects could contain enough power to damage you eyes. So it probably is not a very feasible idea.

Answer 4

I have worked on a 1 Gig watt laser for NASA . It was used to measure the distance to a satellite with a special mirror on it . We were able to measure the distance on a satellite at 12,000 KL. to an accuracy of 10 cm. Your eyes can be put out at 50 miles . If it is very humid the reflection off the humidity could damage your eyes.