Do NOT look directly into the laser
February 17, 2008
The University of Michigan (or “That place up north”, for those of you also from rival universities) has created the “most intense laser in the universe,” as Engadget put it. The monster laser, named HERCULES (no, it’s not an acronym — they made it all caps because…well, because it could kill you) has 300 terawatts of power. For comparison, the entire U.S. electric grid has a capacity 1 terawatt. Forget those piddling lasers that can burn your skin — they haven’t said anything to that effect about HERCULES, but I’m willing to bet this thing could punch a hole clear through your body in a millisecond, if not just outright vaporize you. As the team from U. Mich. put it: “If you could hold a giant magnifying glass in space and focus all the sunlight shining toward Earth onto one grain of sand, that concentrated ray would approach the intensity of [HERCULES].”
Wow.
