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The sound of lasers

Rizzo

Well-Known Member
I was reading about the SmAR/Fatboy and noticed that there was not info about the sound it makes when firing. That got me wondering, a device that is powered by precharged capacitors to project light which is focused through lenses would theoretically be fairly quiet, maybe even silent.

So my question:
What does the laser say?
 
ACTUAL TECHNICAL ANSWER INCOMING.

Lasers go wrrrr-bang.

More specifically, lasers are going to get very hot just like any other weapon. Where projectile weapons can dissipate heat by using the mechanical motion of the weapon to help blow air over some parts, and by ejecting casings (which contain a lot of the heat from the shooting) lasers generally have to have some other active-cooling feature. In realistic designs that is usually in the form of fans and heatsinks. You could imagine that a laser firing is going to sound a lot like that dull humm you hear from your computer due to spinning fans or other moving parts.


The SmAR/Fatboy fires in pulses so I assume it is a drilling type laser instead of a heat ray. This type of laser focuses all of its energy on as small a point as possible on its target. That one tiny point gets extremely hot nearly instantly, turning it into a rapidly expanding ball of gas. Like any explosion it makes a loud BANG.


It also gets very, very, bright. If you're looking at your target without sunglasses you probably just blinded yourself.
 
Having been on the receiving end of an experimental surgical laser, the closest I can associate the sound of the laser - which fired in a pulse - is nearest to an old flash add-on for a photocamera. Albeit a deeper, more sinisterly "I am powerful" strobe.

Considering that the laser's job was to char my flesh bonedeep, I always associated the sound with electricity. Nowadays I know better and understand it was a focalized application of heat saturation... but it always felt to me like shocking white-hot pain (take from that descriptor what you will, but my emphasis was always on the shocking part).

For reference. This is a much friendlier laser than I remember. (viewer discretion is adviced)
 
Wow, even the Type 33 NSP article doesn't seem to list the sound it makes. Hmm...I feel like this has been answered before, though, but I'm not sure where...
 
RPG-D RPGfix
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