Mar 7 2008HERCULES Laser Sounds Powerful, I Guess
The HERCULES laser produces a beam that lasts 30 million billionths of a second and is believed to be the most intense light in the universe.
If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of a new laser beam made in a University of Michigan laboratory. The record-setting beam measures 20 billion trillion watts per square centimeter. It contains 300 terawatts of power. That’s 300 times the capacity of the entire U.S. electricity grid. The laser beam's power is concentrated to a 1.3-micron speck about 100th the diameter of a human hair. A human hair is about 100 microns wide.
It is hoped the beam can be used to develop better forms of radiation treatment for cancer and explore the possibility of spontaneous matter generation (holy hellfire!). Now my buddy (who will remain anonymous but whose name is York) came up with an even better use for such a laser. Are you ready for it? Here it comes -- A 24 HOUR LASER LIGHT SHOW ON THE MOON! Wrap your brain around that one for a minute. This might very well be the turning point in world relations. Think about it -- all nations coming together to get high as shit and watch lasers on the fucking moon! Can you smell that? It’s world peace. Or maybe it’s the moon exploding. Either way it’s going to be a hell of a show.
HERCULES Laser is Most Intense Laser in the Universe, Almost as Powerful as the Death Star [gizmodo]
Reader Comments
1. Dustin - March 7, 2008 5:54 PM
Like that time i swalled a entire chunk of fiberglass insulation.
2. dustin - March 7, 2008 5:55 PM
Swallowed, my bad
http://threadless.com/?from=Dujaco
3. jab - March 7, 2008 6:23 PM
wouldn't this thing shoot straight through the moon?
4. ilovejb - March 7, 2008 6:29 PM
I would have thought York would be more into a giant laser crossword puzzle...
5. Bleebul - March 7, 2008 9:50 PM
Yeah, OK, but can it blast Celebrity Apprentice off the air?
6. guate6 - March 7, 2008 11:54 PM
Can the energy produced be converted into useful energy? Either way, I think the moon would explode.
7. tmhs - March 8, 2008 9:08 AM
300 Terrawatts is enough to power a time travel device.
8. BlightedArt - March 9, 2008 3:38 PM
@ #7
We know, this device was invented 20 years from now.
9. dr.yosh - March 9, 2008 4:20 PM
maybe this energy can be use for teleport! One of the problem of teleport is the fact that you need to divide molecula by molecula something, but you need an incredible amount of energy....that's the energy we need...c'mon scotty!
10. Uncle Eccoli - March 10, 2008 9:17 AM
I'm already filling my house with popcorn.
11. Boydi xXx - March 10, 2008 12:55 PM
Seriously, what would happen if we shined it at the sun...
Would it explode?
Boydi xXx
12. Flashburn - March 10, 2008 1:44 PM
#10
Real Genius was a funny movie
13. Saerain - March 12, 2008 4:00 AM
#11
No, it is useless as a weapon. Absolutely nothing visible to the naked eye would happen. Lasers like this are designed to vapourise individual atoms. If you fired it at a sheet of paper, you wouldn't notice anything. If you fired it at a grain of sand, you wouldn't notice anything. After annihilating its target atom(s), it would just dissipate into the surrounding environment and be diluted like a drop of food colouring in an ocean.
It is much less useful for cancer treatment than nanotechnology will be, but still an impressive achievement.