Inventor Builds Actual Laser Gun That Literally Sets Stuff on Fire When You Pull the Trigger

Be extremely careful!

Shoot from the Hip

A daredevil YouTuber and tinkerer has built a handheld laser gun that's powerful enough to melt pennies from a distance.

In a video published last week, American inventor Drake "styropyro" Anthony followed up on a years-old laser pointer project, cramming dubiously-sourced laser parts from China into the housing of an old radar speed gun.

The device transmits so much energy that pulling its trigger can literally set stuff on fire with a dazzling blue beam. It can punch straight through red solo cups, instantly pop balloons, light matches, and candles — and that's before he concentrated multiple beams with an additional lens element.

After that modification, the laser even caused the zinc of a penny to catch fire, leaving behind a whisp of zinc oxide, a jaw-dropping science experiment that demonstrates the sheer power of light itself.

 

Blast 'Em

The result even caught Anthony by surprise.

"I've done all sorts of mad science experiments with pennies over the years," he said in the video. "I've dissolved them in acid, treated them with cyanide, hit them with 1,000 amps, blasted them with other lasers, but none of these methods ever managed to light a penny on fire."

In a separate experiment, Anthony managed to weld two razor blades together by pointing the laser gun at the seams. He even made rubies by pointing the laser at a mixture of alumina and lumia powder in a ceramic cup.

Needless to say, Anthony needed some serious PPE to even fire it on during tests.

"With an output of 250 watts, this laser eclipses the threshold for the highest laser danger rating by a factor of 500," he boasted in the video. "That means that just 0.2 percent of the laser's power is already considered an instant blindness hazard as well as a fire hazard."

The YouTuber took the opportunity to also discuss the dangers of laser pointers you can buy online, many of which surpass legal limits.

"A laser doesn't have to be record-breaking to obliterate your retinas if misused," Anthony said. "I realize that this warning may seem ironic coming from me, but laser eye injuries are unfortunately very common today."

More on lasers: Alarming Spy Device Can Read Text in an Open Book From Nearly a Mile Away