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If we're comparing lasers that go for seconds and lasers that go for femtoseconds, I think measuring watts is way too misleading.

Measured in simple joules, mosquito is .04, earth is 10^32, and this laser is 50.

If we make a joules version of the 1-30 scale, the laser in the article would only score a 4.

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For sure; using total energy delivered makes a lot more sense. But then I think it would be better to use whatever tool humanity has that delivers the max total energy; let’s say Tsar Bomba.

Let’s say the mosquito is 1 again, so Death Star is 34. Tsar Bomba would be about 17.3. Over halfway again!

It’s kind of surprising that our max power output and max energy output are about the same on these scales.

So I could kill all the mosquitoes in my yard in one pulse with this laser.

If they get close enough together for that pulse to hit them all.

Just send me out there and aim the pulse at the one spot in the middle of my back I just can't quite reach.

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