this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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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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[–] Subverb 92 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] Slowy 47 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 61 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Can't hear but still cause damage?

[–] Slowy 70 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months 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.

[–] A_Random_Idiot 13 points 10 months ago

Trust this guy, when it comes to the small d he knows everything about it.

[–] Slowy 8 points 10 months ago

Oops, thanks for the correction!

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Weren't there some huge high power sonars that could melt people to goo?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yep, and hurt whales from the pressure.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Oh, so not all bad then

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Loud lightsabers?

[–] dlpkl 67 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

Hard light dildos let's fucking goooo

[–] just_another_person 28 points 10 months ago

Man, they're going to have remake all the Star Wars porn parodies all over again.

[–] SzethFriendOfNimi 9 points 10 months ago

Code Bullet? That you?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Light saber what?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

"Blow me" about to have a whole new meaning.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] a4ng3l 12 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Yelling lightsabers at that loudness. All the better imho.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

Luke!

WHAT?

LUKE! I AM YOUR...

WHAAAT? TURN YOUR LIGHTSABER OFF IF YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY

HELL NO YOU TURN OFF YOUR LIGHTSABER BOY

[–] SzethFriendOfNimi 10 points 10 months ago

Holograms or maybe molecular scale tractor beams?

[–] Seasm0ke 20 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] sir_reginald 52 points 10 months 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.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 10 months ago (1 children)

WHAT DID YOU SAY? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER MY HOLO-WAIFU

[–] FartsWithAnAccent 3 points 10 months ago

"NOTICE ME SENPAI!!1"

[–] Seasm0ke 18 points 10 months 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.

[–] echo64 27 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] Seasm0ke 5 points 10 months ago

Lol probably, we are definitely more on track for cyberpunk or idiocracy than star trek post scarcity socialist utopia

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

According to the article it's already using ultrasound.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago

So they can only do holodeck simulations of EDM shows.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

It may be interesting to see how humidity and temperature influence the laser (or even other gases as mentioned in the article)

[–] surewhynotlem 2 points 10 months ago

So like, ten years at most

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[–] Reygle 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months 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

[–] NotMyOldRedditName 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (3 children)

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

[–] CosmicTurtle 18 points 10 months ago

There's an Air and Space Museum

[–] abhibeckert 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

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. ;-)

[–] brianorca 4 points 10 months ago

Corner reflector. Send it back where it came from, without knowing where they are ahead of time.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Damn... you're right.

Maybe they'll find another way now that they've found one.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] Brokkr 5 points 10 months ago

It would happen regardless of the power of the laser, but it would likely be undetectable at significantly lower power.

[–] off_apparition 2 points 10 months ago (4 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Art of Manliness?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (3 children)
[–] crashoverride 1 points 10 months ago

Why not a BM?

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[–] Mr_Blott 1 points 10 months ago

Age Of Mempires?

[–] karakoram 1 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Doesn't an AOM typically have a lens?

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