What if everyone pointed a laser at the moon?

Summary

This video explores a fun, hypothetical question: what would happen if everyone on Earth aimed a laser pointer at the Moon? Through a series of increasingly outrageous scenarios, the script explains that, even with billions of lasers or extreme power, the Moon’s appearance wouldn’t change. The energy from lasers would be dwarfed by the Sun’s brightness, and even the strongest lasers would have little effect, ultimately leading to a humorous and dramatic conclusion involving the destruction and ejection of the Moon from Earth’s orbit. The video blends scientific explanation with humor to debunk the idea of changing the Moon's color.

Takeaways

• 😀 Regular laser pointers are too weak to affect the moon in any noticeable way.
• 🌍 Not everyone on Earth can see the moon at the same time, limiting the potential impact of aiming lasers at it.
• 🌑 Sunlight already provides about 6 petawatts of energy to the moon, far overshadowing any laser pointer's impact.
• 💡 Even if we used one-watt lasers, the illumination they would provide is only a fraction of moonlight, not strong enough to alter its appearance.
• 🔦 Using powerful light sources like searchlights or IMAX projectors still wouldn't make a significant difference on the moon's brightness.
• ✈️ A hypothetical Boeing 747 mounted with a megawatt laser could match sunlight's brightness but would consume an enormous amount of energy.
• 🌞 Sunlight's overwhelming brightness (130,000 lux) easily drowns out even the most powerful artificial light sources aimed at the moon.
• ⚡ A global effort to use powerful lasers could push the moon to a glowing state, but it would require immense amounts of energy, equivalent to Earth’s oil reserves.
• 🚀 Extreme laser power (500 terawatt fusion lasers) could vaporize lunar rock, creating a plasma jet that would propel the moon out of Earth's orbit.
• 🔥 In the most extreme scenario, powerful lasers could turn the moon's surface into a rocket engine, leading to catastrophic changes in its orbit and possibly Earth's fate.

Q & A

Why wouldn't the moon change color if everyone aimed a laser pointer at it?

The moon wouldn't change color because the power of typical laser pointers is far too weak compared to the sunlight already illuminating the moon. Even if everyone aimed a laser at the moon simultaneously, the combined energy would be over 200 million times weaker than sunlight.

What would happen if everyone used a one-watt laser pointer?

If everyone used a one-watt laser pointer, the combined illumination would add about half a lux to the moon's surface, which is only half as bright as the moonlight we see from Earth. This is still insignificant compared to the 130,000 lux of sunlight.

What happens when you use more powerful lights, like police searchlights, on the moon?

Using more powerful lights like police searchlights (50,000 lumens) increases the brightness to about 20 lux, which is twice the brightness of the ambient moonlight on the dark side. However, it still doesn't significantly affect the brightness of the light half of the moon.

How powerful would a laser need to be to match the brightness of sunlight on the moon?

A laser powerful enough to match the brightness of sunlight would need to be in the range of a megawatt. This would draw five petawatts of power, which is twice the world's total electricity consumption.

What happens if we try to increase the power even further, like using lasers across Asia?

If we were to use lasers across Asia, powering 50 trillion lasers, the moon would shine as brightly as the mid-morning sun for a couple of minutes. However, this would drain Earth's oil reserves in just two minutes.

What is the most powerful laser on Earth, and how would it affect the moon?

The most powerful laser on Earth is the confinement beam at the National Ignition Facility, capable of producing 500 terawatts in pulses. If used continuously and focused on the moon, it would vaporize the lunar surface, creating a plasma layer that would block further laser beams and potentially push the moon out of orbit.

What is laser ablation, and how does it affect the moon?

Laser ablation is a process where laser energy vaporizes material on the surface, turning it into plasma. On the moon, this would vaporize lunar rock and create a plasma layer that ejects material into space, potentially causing the moon to be pushed out of Earth's orbit.

What would happen to the moon if it were pushed out of Earth's orbit by laser ablation?

If the moon were pushed out of Earth's orbit, it would enter a lopsided orbit around the sun. This orbit would eventually be unstable, and the moon could either be ejected into the outer solar system, slingshotted into the sun, or collide with another planet, including Earth.

Why does the laser ablation process not destroy the moon's mass completely?

While laser ablation vaporizes the surface of the moon, it doesn't completely destroy the moon's mass. The moon retains most of its mass but loses some material through the ejection of plasma and vaporized rock.

What is the significance of the scenario where lasers could potentially destroy Earth and push the moon out of orbit?

This extreme scenario highlights the immense power required to significantly affect the moon or Earth. It serves as a hypothetical illustration of the potential dangers of overusing lasers or other high-energy technologies and the complex consequences of such actions.