• Question: How does laser light differ from "normal" light?

    Asked by lilbutcurious001 to Mike, Tim, Tom on 5 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      Light is made up of electromagnetic waves (which are like waves of energy). In laser light, all the peaks and troughs of the waves are lined up, in regular light the waves all happen randomly. This property is called coherency.

      You can focus laser light into smaller spots (because it’s coherent).
      Another property is that laser light is a very specific colour (which one depends on the laser), normal light has a range of colours.

    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 5 Jul 2012:

      And it is collimated, it doesn’t spread out so much over long distances, which makes for better laser pointers.

      That’s about it I think…

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