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Laser Beams Deflected Off of Nothing but Air for First Time Ever in Breakthrough Patent Pending Process - The Debrief (thedebrief.org)
submitted 2 years ago by [M, B] to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Laser Beams Deflected Off of Nothing but Air for First Time Ever in Breakthrough Patent Pending Process - The Debrief::An international team of scientists report that they have successfully used acoustics to deflect laser beams in an engineering first.

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[–] 90 points 2 years ago (2 children)

140 decibels. I'm sure some applications exist but it won't be a 3D TV soon.

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  • [–] 47 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    In an ultrasonic frequency we can’t hear. But your pets and any nearby bats or rodents etc may be upset by it..

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  • [–] 61 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Can't hear but still cause damage?

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  • [–] 70 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I didn’t know the answer to this so I looked it up - yes. Over 120 Db can cause damage even if it’s ultrasonic and you can’t hear it. Apparently at 155Db the heat created by the sound wave can be dangerous as well.

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  • [–] 40 points 2 years ago* (6 children)

    Just a small note, it's written dB, small "d", big "B".

    "B" is the unit symbol for bel and "d" is the symbol for the SI prefix deci, a tenth.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Yes. Industrial grade ultrasonic sensors are harmful to your health. They can be used, for example, to measure the water level in a tank. If you need to enter a place like that, you should physically disconnect the sensor first. You might not hear much of the noise, but you may feel it in your teeth or some other places.

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    • [–] 66 points 2 years ago* (4 children)

    Hard light dildos let's fucking goooo

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    • [–] 25 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Light sabers?

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Yelling lightsabers at that loudness. All the better imho.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    Fun fact, if sound travelled through space, the sun would be as loud as a jackhammer everywhere on earth. Second fun fact, due to the fact that we evolved on earth you wouldve evolved to not be able to hear that frequency.

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    • [–] 20 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Holodecks soon?

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  • [–] 52 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    considering the lab experiment with just one laser required a sound level of about 140 decibels that consume 20 gigawatts, I don't think holodecks are going to be a practical device.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Great points, but you know how things go. Proof of concept is a bloated laboratory implementation, then the tech gets smaller and more efficient over time. Next thing you know the sound is outside of human hearing range and the laser projector is fitted to a drone.

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  • [–] 27 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    More realisticly how things go, experimental research only works in lab conditions, clickbait article suggests it's coming next year, people make giant assumptions, people lose faith in science because the promised thing doesn't arrive

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    • [–] 19 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    Horseshit. Don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining.

    Edit: this is more horseshit like the "room temperature superconductor" that was instantly debunked as a horseshit scheme recently.

    Sound pressure waves cannot distort spacetime

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    [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Space battles would be so much cooler if every now and then the phaser gets split around the ship instead of hitting the shields.

    Would also work even when shields are down.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    But that needs air. There's no air in space.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Doesn't need to be air "in space", there just needs to be air somewhere between the laser weapon and whatever it is you don't want the weapon to destroy...

    ... although it'd probably be easier to use a mirror. Maybe one pointing directly at the person holding a laser weapon. ;-)

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    • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I mean, that's a 20GW laser, what about those handheld lasers? Would you still need 140db?

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    • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    That's just an AOM

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