randombio.com | commentary
Sunday, May 13, 2016

Better living through lasers

If people were more interested in electromagnetic radiation than in fighting, the world would be a brighter pl——ouch!


Laser interference pattern
H ere is the type of movie I would like to see, just once:

Goldfinger: You are a vorthy adversary, Mister Bond. But now I'm going to chop off your penis with a one-and-a half watt red laser comprising a ruby crystal doped with 0.05 percent chromium.

Bond: Blimey, that'll take a while.

Golffinger: It contains trivalent chromium and its primary emission wavelength is 694.3 nanometers.

Bond: Might I suggest, then, a helium-neon laser, which emits at 632.8 nanometers, which is closer to the absorbance maximum of oxyhemoglobin of 576.2 nm, thereby affording greater penetrability. It is also more visible, being well within the response of the human eye. Oh, what am I saying!

Goldfinger: That is very true, Mister Bond! -- May I call you Bon-James?

Bonjames: If you like, I can write the Maxwell equations on your blackboard.

Goldfinger: Bonjames, my dear old chap, here, let me untie you!

Okay, this bit of dialogue might not appeal to everybody. And, if I may be so bold, maybe that is what is wrong with the world.

We've adopted some aspects of science—the secular approach to understanding natural phenomena, for example—but we are still engrossed in finding novel ways to chop off important bits of each other's bodies.

aug 02, 2016 5:19 am


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