sorry for confusing you DeX, what i was trying to say is exactly what you said in the second part of your post
cheese is right... you might try shining it through a fishtank mod(with lots of air bubbles to reflect the light) could be cool...
visable lasers exist. If you are saying they don't, then you are just simply WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We're talking about a visible beam here, i.e. being able to see the actual laser beam when it's not shining into your eye. This needs there to be something in the beam to scatter light in your direction, air does this but not very well, and the only way to see a low power laser beam (sub class 3B - 5mW in a 1cm diameter) is you shine it through some dispersive medium (like smoke). If you up the power, like my 10W ss laser at work, then there's more than enough power for the scattering in the beam in air to make the beam visible. But 10W is 2,000 times more power than you could legally put in your case without a safety notice on your door and registering it etc... Rob.
but seriously...visable beams aren't fake...they are real, even for pen-sized lasers, they are real..I've seen/used them.
Dude, you mentioned pen lasers. Those are not visible lasers. The only point that you can see them is when they contact a surface. What cheese and others are refering to is the beam of the laser, as it travels through open air. That part is not visible unless there is some sort of medium to disperse the light, such as smoke, bubbles, etc.
Visible beams are impossible. Without anything for the light to bounce off there is no way for the light to reach your eye for you to see it. Any visible beams you claim to have seen are the result of particles or some other objects which reflect some of the light towards your eyes, and this would effect all forms of light not just lasers.
Well that's true, but the Rayleigh scattering for a 10W laser in normal air not only makes it's beam extremely visible but it also creates some cool effects in it. Scattering effects like this do effect normal light, but the effect is intensity dependent, so you're never going to notice it for a light bulb. Maybe I'll take some piccie of my lab one day Rob.
wow, a thread started by me has reached the 3 page mark...i feel so proud!! anywho, still 50/50 about whether or not i'll actually experiment with this...depends if i can actually be bothered (although, if i get it working (with smoke/water/etc) it will look pretty cool) maybe i'll just get a UV CC, make a 'tank' behind the window, fill it full of UV reactive poystyrene balls and attatch a fan to blow them around a bit...'Particle Case' anyone?
