Infrared Laser heating

i was thinking this would be valuable with tanker fires if they know the contents of the tanker then they could determine the combustion point and get their men out before an explosion occurs.

My department has two types of equipment to measure heat. One is a small gun shaped thermometer that shoots out a laser, and has a small LCD screen to tell you the temperature of what you are aiming at. The other thing we use is the thermal imagining camera. Like the laser thermometer, this also gives us a digital read out of the temperature, but gives us a digitized view of where the camera is looking, displaying cooler colors as black and gray, and hotter colors as orange, red and white. This allows us to be able to, in the example you've given, see the entire tanker in one view, see which points are the hottest and which are the coolest. We can then also use the placards to determine ignition temperatures and work to keep the tanker under that temperature. However, if we had a tanker accident and there was something flammable inside, I would not care what the temperature of the tanker was, I wouldn't be getting any closer than I had to to do the job.

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After reading an article on "How stuff works" about lasers I feel like I have an elementary understanding of how lasers work. However, there is a part in the article that confuses me: "The reason that the CO2 laser is so dangerous is because it emits laser light in the infrared and microwave region of the spectrum. Infrared radiation is heat, and this laser basically melts through whatever it is focused upon." The wavelength of the CO2 laser is 10600nm I am confused because I always thought that the smaller the wavelength, the more energetic that beam of light is and the more destruction it could do. Seeing as the Argon-Flouride laser emits a wavelength of 193nm, why isn't this the most powerful laser? And since the CO2 laser is at such a high wavelength, I would think that it wouldn't be very powerful at all. How is it that heat is infrared radiation? Thank you for your responses.

Well, I do not agree with the article. But I also do not agree with you. So let's start with explaining the problem with your argument. You are correct in saying a shorter wavelength has more energy. But a short wavelength has more energy PER PHOTON. However, the total amount of energy (or power) is related not only to the energy per photon, but also the number of photons (or photons per second). So one 193nm photon has as much energy as two 386nm photons. That means that a laser can be more powerful, despite having a longer wavelength, if it gives off more light. Lasers in the UV tend to be fairly low power (especially due to the lack of good mirrors in the UV). It is typically easier to make high power lasers at longer wavelengths. The most powerful lasers are usually in the IR simply because there are good mirrors and good gain media (with good pumping mechanisms) for IR wavelengths. Now, as a side note, a shorter wavelength will be more chemically active due to the more power per photon (since chemistry occurs on the photon scale). So a UV laser can be more dangerous due to that issue (it can cause ionization and cancer, etc). Now why is that quote wrong? Well, a couple of reasons. They do not define 'danger'. The most common laser injury is to the eye. At equal powers, a near IR laser is much more hazardous to the eye than a far IR laser like a CO2 laser because the near IR can pass through the lens of the eye and be focused on the retina. Most laser injuries are eye injuries caused by near IR light for this very reason. The far IR laser will not pass through the lens and thus not be focused to a high power density. UV lasers can cause chemical damage which may lead to cancer or other issues, so they are dangerous as well. The main danger of far IR lasers is that they often have enough power to cause burns. But any laser with enough power will cause burns, just like anything that is hot enough will cause burns. So a 10W visible laser will hurt your finger just as much as a 10W CO2 laser. The damage mechanism in that case is the same... there are 10W of power being delivered to your skin in a small area. The wavelength in that case is rather irrelevant. The effect is identical to focusing sunlight onto an ant with a magnifying glass... How is IR radiation heat? Well simple: it isn't. That is a flawed statement that got its origin based on the fact that any object will give off light depending on its temperature. This is called blackbody radiation and it is true of ice cubes and of people and of the sun. The wavelength and magnitude of light depends on the temperature. For most things we come into contact with in our everyday lives, that temperature is between 0 and 100C and the main wavelength given off is somewhere in the IR, with more light given off above (lower energy) the peak wavelength than below it. The hotter something gets, the further down that wavelength shifts and the more total energy is given off. For things that are a 100's of C, that main wavelength shifts into the red light. That is why fire coals and your stove burner glow red when hot. When objects get above 1000C, the main wavelength is somewhere around green. Examples of this are the surface of the sun and the filaments of incandescent lightbulbs. These appear to be white (or slightly yellow) instead of green. There are two reasons for that, the first is that the light is emitted in a broad distribution, so there is not only green, but also red and yellow and even some blue and purple. The other reason is due to the biology of the eye and brain, but I will not go there. But, the reason IR light is often associated with heat is because the hotter something is the more IR it gives off. And IR is absorbed by the skin and turned into heat. So we feel IR light as heat. Of course, we also feel visible light as heat too. But, since we see visible light with out eyes, we more strongly associate visible light with brightness, while IR we only sense as heat. But the IR light, itself, is not heat at all. It may cause heat when it is absorbed by our skin (just like visible and UV light). But causing heat and being heat are far from the same thing.

Suppose all the absorbed radiation is converted to heat. Calculate the number of photons at this wavelength required to raise the temp of ther water by 10.00 deg C. The specific heat capacity of water is 4.188 J/gram/c

energy = (number of photons)(Planck constant)(frequency of radiation) = (mass of water)(specific heat of water)(change in temperature) E = Nhf = mCΔT velocity = (wavelength)(frequency) c = λf Nhc/λ = mCΔT N = mCΔTλ/(hc) N = (0.275 kg)(4188 J/kg-°C)(10.00°C)(1.06e-5 m) / [(6.63e-34 J-s)(3.00e8 m/s)] N = 6.14e23 photons

What are some of the advantages of using satellites for oceanographic research? Are there any disadvantages? With technological advances like satellites, oceanographers around the world are rapidly beginning to conduct research in more efficient ways. Researchers are finding that satellites allow them to study various components of the ocean waters from the comfort of their own computers, versus having to travel thousands of miles to conduct their studies. This is a huge advantage because researchers are able to collect large amounts of data from the satellite collection in a matter of seconds instead of having to manually acquire data. Not only do satellites provide for efficient use of time but they also enable researchers to accomplish more research with fewer discrepancies and erroneous data. Satellites are allowing oceanographers to use the data captured by satellites to research the temperature of the sea surface, sea-ice concentrations, water turbidity, surface wind and wave conditions, ocean currents and tides, and the topography of the ocean floor (Pinet, 2008). Today’s satellites are so advanced that they are equipped with a variety of sensors, including radar emitters and detectors, laser reflectors, altimeters (a device to measure altitude), cameras that detect visible light, infrared(heat), and microwave radiation (Pinet, 2008). The capabilities that satellites have also provide researchers with the advantage of gathering information on a specific topic from various sources. A disadvantage of using satellites for oceanographic research is that in the years to come, satellites will only become more high-tech, leaving those less technically savvy behind. Researchers are going to have to possess the technical satellite knowledge to be able to control and obtain the information required to conduct research. Also, what would happen if for some reason, a primary satellite were to have to go down or give incorrect data? Oceanographic research would be affected tremendously and production would come to a halt. Oceanographers would have to rely on their field skills to manually acquire data again. References Pinet P.R. (2008). Invitation to Oceanography (5th ed.). Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

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