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A comment on WestJet pilot’s eyes struck by laser on flight from Newfoundland to Florida. Parent comment

Re:WestJet pilot’s eyes struck by laser on flight from Newfo... by abakker on Thursday May 23, 2019 @12:26AM (#19988466)
I mean, there’s no way they’re 50w. The best diode lasers for cutting are about 7W. I have a 4.2w laser on my CNC machine for engraving. That’s very powerful, but, nowhere near 50W. For reference, a 50W CO2 laser is typically used in a professional quality machine for cutting/marking/engraving.

Good smell test for those claims: what battery can you hold in your hand that can output 50W?

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Re:WestJet pilot’s eyes struck by laser on flight from Newfo... by Goz3rr on Thursday May 23, 2019 @03:17AM (#19989320)
> what battery can you hold in your hand that can output 50W?

Batteries used for drone racing can easily be held in your hand and can put out hundreds of watts.

Most flashlight and laser pointers use 18650 batteries. Something like the Samsung INR18650-20S can put out ~100W from a slightly bigger form factor than AA batteries.

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Re:WestJet pilot’s eyes struck by laser on flight from Newfo... by abakker on Thursday May 23, 2019 @09:23AM (#19991510)
That’s a good point. Those can actually put out up to 30A current at 3.6v. Doing so, they sure won’t last long. They are only 2000mAh batteries.

My battery test was wrong, still, there are no 50W laser diodes out there. We’re doing well to get 1/10 of that power output.

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Re:WestJet pilot’s eyes struck by laser on flight from Newfo... by metaphor on Thursday May 23, 2019 @01:49AM (#19988854)
> what battery can you hold in your hand that can output 50W?

Laptop batteries all day, so to speak...more typically for about an hour of runtime at that power consumption level between recharge. Not quite following your analogy.

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Re:WestJet pilot’s eyes struck by laser on flight from Newfo... by thatcat on Thursday May 23, 2019 @06:39PM (#19996727)
You could use a capacitor to output higher watts for a short duration.
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