Editing 1441: Turnabout
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[[Randall]] discussed the effect of hitting the Moon with lasers in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/ What If: Laser Pointer] and the likelihood of hitting a celestial object with a laser in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/109/ What If: Into the Blue]. | [[Randall]] discussed the effect of hitting the Moon with lasers in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/13/ What If: Laser Pointer] and the likelihood of hitting a celestial object with a laser in [https://what-if.xkcd.com/109/ What If: Into the Blue]. | ||
β | The likelihood of the wild shot being aimed at the Moon is fairly low in itself, and the probability of accidentally hitting a retroreflector on the Moon is lower still. Even if it did, it is highly unlikely that a pistol-sized generator could produce a beam coherent enough to inflict damage after traveling to the Moon and back, as lasers built for the purpose of hitting retroreflectors on the Moon typically get a return around one quadrillionth of the original beam | + | The likelihood of the wild shot being aimed at the Moon is fairly low in itself, and the probability of accidentally hitting a retroreflector on the Moon is lower still. Even if it did, it is highly unlikely that a pistol-sized generator could produce a beam coherent enough to inflict damage after traveling to the Moon and back, as lasers built for the purpose of hitting retroreflectors on the Moon typically get a return around one quadrillionth of the original beam. |
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== |