CO2 laser running on exhaled breath

[Curiously_Coherent]

Hey folks,

I'm not into gas myself, but this looked like a pretty interesting video about a guy who put together a DIY CO2 laser that he supplies with exhaled breath. (constant fiddling of supply valve ensues... LOL) Though you might find it interesting. This link goes to the Gizmodo article, which has the original and instruction links as well.

Talk a Load of Exhaled Hot Air Into This LASER

Cheers, CC

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

CC --
The old Scientific American article he is using mentioned that a bit of water vapor seemed to enhance the beam power. Exhaled breath also needs some He but the N2 and CO2 are there. He is finding that various gas mixes work sorta !!!
He will want to keep water vapor away from a NaCl window........

HMike

 

[Gryphon]

Isn't that the laser Jarrod made?

http://laserpointerforums.com/f43/successful-diy-co2-laser-made-scratch-52801.html

 

[Arayan]

Isn't that the laser Jarrod made?

http://laserpointerforums.com/f43/successful-diy-co2-laser-made-scratch-52801.html

This is the Jarrod's laser

And, in this pict the laser which running with breath

for me it's the same device :thinking:

 

[millirad]

^ Yes you are correct. Somewhere near the end of the video you can hear Jarrod speaking and therefore confirm that it is the same CO2 laser.

 

[jarrod694]

Hi guys,

They made one mistake in the blogs: the laser DOES work with exhaled breath only!!! I wish they had clarified this. I don't remember ever saying that it required Helium and N2; only that it was lasing on exhaled breath.

To be sure; I've tried both exhaled air into a balloon and exhaled air with helium. No surprises here, but helium does significantly enhance the performance. Irregardless, it is quite possible to get a reasonable laser with exhaled breath alone! IIRC, there was no helium used for this video. Since the video was made, I added this device to the system in order to make the output more steady and reliable ...

pressure-regulators on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The balloon is used with all gasses. Not just exhaled air. When using CO2 from another source, such as mixing baking soda and vinegar, I use the following precedure to obtain a predetermined mix:I first deposit a small amount of CO2 into the storage balloon (hereafter abbreviated as SB). I measure the circumference of the SB using a tailors measuring tape, and then use this circumference to calculate it's volume. After considering the volume of CO2 that the SB contains (I want the CO2 to be about 10% of the final mix), I decide how much N2 I want in the mix. If I want roughly twice as much N2 as CO2 in the final mix, then I add this corresponding volume to the volume of CO2, and calculate a new circumference (in other words, 3x the volume of CO2, which I originally calculated). I then fill the SB with N2, until I arrive at this new circumference. At this point, I divide the sum of the two volumes by 30% (assuming I have twice as much N2 as CO2), and then calculate a final circumference using this number. Following this last step, I inflate the balloon with helium until this final circumference is reached. In this way, the 3 gasses can be combined in a predetermined ratio with some accuracy. Sure - the balloon is not a perfect sphere, but this method is much more accurate than simply guessing!

The original video is here. I have a description below it.

YouTube - Homemade Carbon Dioxide Laser Running on Exhaled Breath!

- Jarrod