Got an old Blu-ray player from which you can cannibalize the laser
unit? Scott Stevenson did, and use used it produce this video. Blu-ray
players use a 405 nm (more violet than blue
- see thumbnail) laser diode that emits a 580 nm beam at
around 5 mW. I'm guessing black balloons are used because they
absorb more of the light energy and therefore heat faster. A debate
on the YouTube page argues between melting or air heating causing the
balloon to burst. My money is on local melting since it would take a
long time to heat the air inside enough to expand enough to cause the
popping.
RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools"
in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide
me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing
my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet)
was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity.
Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line,
and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...
