The Torch flashlight: why illuminate when you can incinerate?
By Nilay Patel 
posted Jan 28th 2008 1:32PM
posted Jan 28th 2008 1:32PM
[Via I4U News]
Please note: If you're a current Engadget commenter, you do not need to re-register. Simply login and you will be prompted to select a username.
I want it!!!
This is all that's left of the US's Strategic Defence Initiative...
hax!
I want one of those. Then I can go down to the local grade school and impress those chumps who use magnifying glasses to burn ants.
This is Wicked Lasers we're talking about. They're widely considered by enthusiasts to be one of the most crooked companies out there (with by far the best and slickest marketing team). There are better, more reliable options out there. Do some research.
Flashlights have enthusiasts?
Actually, yes. But that's not what I was referring to. Wicked Lasers, as you may have guessed, has been a laser company up to this point. They're based in China (as are most laser manufacturers), but they have little interest in quality control and/or customer service. I'll be curious to see how this thing performs in reality vs. a unit that was hand-picked for a demo.
So are you going to source your argument or just keep repeating it?
Refer us to some alternative options which have better quality control / reputation please.
"There are better, more reliable options out there"
Matches.
As for other options, there are several for lasers (I'm not a shill, but Optotronics or Laser Glow are good places to start). As for this light, there was a guy on candlepowerforums who was manufacturing something markedly similar (4,100 lumens, could start fires, called - no joke - "The Torch") back in 2006, but it appears he got overwhelmed by customer demand. Mayhap Wicked licensed the name/tech from that guy, but I'd wager they didn't given their track record. Wicked's site isn't up yet, but I'd be very, very surprised if this thing comes in anywhere close to the $200 range that the original designer was charging.
Gotta love Wicked Lasers!
Too bad it's a ripoff of a series of custom lights made over a year ago by an individual.
Plus Wicked Lasers overrates their lasers in terms of power.
It can quickly light stuff on fire. How does one overrate that?
oh the things that could be done......
That's going to cause some real confusion in the UK...
When that thing burns your retinas, you can actually smell it happening.
Maybe with the next model I'll be able to write my name on the moon...
Cha
For those not in on the joke -- Chairface Chippendale. Wikipedia it.
Why is light hot?
I think I see where you are going here...
I would assume that it uses a very "inefficient" lamp that emits more in the IR portion of the spectrum and an elliptical reflector to focus the radiation at a single point.
Can't check the site.. looks like it may have been engadgeted? (engadged?)
Actually, I wasn't "going" anywhere with my question... I actually wondered why intense light is hot, thus explaining how this torch works, I would assume.
I tried Googling and got one (1) result only. And it didn't explain.
And yes, it seems the page is down...
Because light is energy and energy can easily be converted to heat. Light mainly happens because an electron goes from a higher level of energy to a lower level of energy..i.e. it loses energy. One of the byproducts of that is light. Therefore, it if it loses energy, you can guess where it goes. That's how light bulbs work...they're so hot (i.e. have so much energy on a small wire) they give off light. Of course that's old school lightbulbs, not LEDs and whatnot.
Light is electromagnetic radiation, and with enough energy it will generate heat when absorbed by matter as that energy is transferred.
Much in the same way high power radio waves generate heat.
Actually, from the image, the bulb is at the focal point for that reflector geometry: a parabola. Reflectors like that are designed to take rays emitted from a single point, and project them into more or less a column (plus divergence, so you don't have too much of a spotlight. Plus, if you did have some kind of focusing device on that thing, it had better be changeable so you can actually burn stuff at different distances, rather than some preset factory kill zone. Good times.
@Scott, Semantix has the correct answer. The IR portion of the light being emitted is absorbed by matter, which is then re-radiated as heat. Most incandescent light sources generate a lot of light in the IR spectrum, along with visible light. Any light can be absorbed and radiated as heat, but IR light is more likely to do so with most matter.
This is referred to as "black body radiation", if you want to google it. If you didn't take a year or two of physics or calculus in college, most of the search results may be somewhat daunting.
Light is quantized into little packets of energy called photons. A source which produces white light is actually giving off many different energies of photons.
One of the readers referenced 'IR' or Infra-Red wavelength light(wavelength is related to amount of energy in a photon). Infra-Red light has a tendency to excite molecules it hits producing heat energy. This is very similar to how water molecules are excited when Microwaves (a lower energy light) hit them.
Dont be fooled however, IR light isnt the only light that produces heat in objects. Every material, due to its component compounds absorbs specific wavelengths of light differently. For example those glow in the dark pigments people have on at Raves that only show up when they are exposed to UV (higher energy) light. In the case of the pigments instead of turning the UV light into heat they convert it into a small amount of heat and some other visible wavelength of light (which is why they are so dang bright).
On a molecular scale, what is actually happening is that the amount of energy that exists in the photon is just about the right size to promote one of the normal bonding electrons in an atom it strikes to a more energetic state. As they say... what goes up, must come down. It's like placing a ball bearing on an unleveled table. Eventually that ball bearing is going to fall, releasing all the energy you put into it by placing it higher.
In much the same way the electron must go back to a more stable state, releasing all the energy it recieved from the photon in some fashion. It can release the energy in a few different ways:
* Translation - causing the atom / molecule to move in 3d space
* Vibration - spring like stretching of the atomic bonds (aka Heat)
* Rotation - rotating parts of itself around bond axes (aka Heat)
* Fluorescence - Giving off another photon (rare)
Most of the time the energy is converted into Roto-vibrational energy (aka Heat) but sometimes it isnt (see the others). Metals are particularly susceptible to converting wavelengths of light into heat because they have much more receptive 'antenna' in the form of an expansive bonding shell (the D-sublevel). It is for this reason that while the metal handles on your doors will get 'fry an egg' hot, the less receptive cloth on your seats will remain relatively cool when exposed to the harsh sun.
I hope this helps. Oh, and I teach chemistry... so that's why I know.
Actually the explanation as to how this light ignites these materials is much simpler. It does NOT have to do with the heat produced when light hits surfaces. It has to do with the heat that is a generated in order to produce the light. Basically, an incandescent light bulb works by heating up a little piece of metal so hot that it glows very bright. Really, the light is the by-product. You can tell by how close they are holding the light to the materials that they are simply using the heat of the bulb. The same way an ordinary 100 watt household light bulb can start a fire.
Still, 4100 lumens is a crazy amount of light for a flashlight, just not nearly enough to IGNITE anything.
Because it wears skimpy little dresses and giggles a lot.
@ aaronb - You believe in homeopathic medicine dont you? Google radiant heat... moron.
*clack* *click* *clack* I has itnernets! I can be expurt 2! *clack* *click* *clack*
Wow, thanks for all the responses everyone!
Vaporize your herbs, bro!
WOOOOO!
Closest thing to the light saber.
Bleh. Now we'll probably get a message from the TSA that flashlights will be banned on flights...
Sad but true
I think it's pretty understandable considering the flashlight could melt through the window and depressurize the cabin.
Nothing sad about it.
Yes Richard, but knowing how they are, they will ban all forms of flashlights. Just like how they banned all liquids on planes (including milk, coffee purchased from the gates, etc).
The flashlight could *not* melt through a window. You'd need something much more powerful (a high powered [non-portable] CO2 laser, for example). This thing depends entirely on the energy being absorbed by the material at which its aimed - black plastic = high absorption, clear window = little-to-no absorption.
Wait till the nut jobs call for a total ban on flashlights because they can be used to harm to people at range. You know.. like guns. Because we can't just accept a few people having them at all. It's too dangerous.
Who needs a flashlight on a plane?
I'm just adding this to my items-that-will-make-me-jump-your-ass-if-you-pull-it-out-on-my-flight list.
You'll find this right above parachutes, and right below dynamite.
Matches in planes aren't outlawed because they melt through the window you know, but more because that dork with his shoe 'bomb' tried to light it, and because it helps the anti-smoking stormtroopers I guess.
And it helps to give a false impression of safety, and competence of the authorities.
Dude! because Wep-Keys are SOOO hard to figure out?
Anyway.
Does anyone know if those lightbulps are actually usable in real life or will I have to invest another 50$ each time I drop that thing?
How many Jack Ass' are going to burn down their homes by leaving this thing on or accidently flipping it on.-- I know I would.
yeah, jackass. :P
It seems a good market for this product is as a lighter for a charcoal BBQ grill.
or, you know, you could use a match?
@Ally: While you're at it, why not just use a horse and buggy instead of a car?
Yeah, at 15 min per battery set (I did not check out the site, so I do not know if its rechargable).. a book of matches and some newspaper is a much cheaper and probably faster method of lighting a bbq
Or if you prefer a renewing source to start the grill instead, they have these little spark devices installed on them all that practically work for the entire life of the grill, usually longer.
I wasn't aware that a piezo sparker could light charcoal. Maybe propane, not charcoal.
Very cool and very useful too!
Nowadays we see it like a flashlight that incinerates objects, but what happens if it arrives at the hands of a person with bad intentions?
It's not a long range death ray. It's just a little less dangerous than the acetylene torch you might have in your garage. You've got to be at point blank range to torch things, otherwise it's just a big light, with a bit more bang.
Ants around the world know there days are numbered.
I've heard the biomass of ants is greater than the biomass of humans on the world. Good luck with a flashlight that lasts 15 minutes a charge.
My boss was just showing off his new $100 super bright flashlight he got for Christmas by shining it in my eyes. Bwahaha, revenge.
Actually if you wanted to use something like this as a lighter of sorts you'd better use an actual laser - it could produce the same heat (and more) while not wasting as much energy on providing illumination.
@ Y
He's getting at the fact that WEP really isn't that secure; there are thousands of programs that can decrypt it within minutes.
Now, if your school is running WPA encryption, that's slightly higher protection. But you could still crack it within a couple of hours or so with the right equipment.
"yo can i get a lil light here!?"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!"
I would rather have my "Made in the USA" Surefire L1 Lumamax. While it doesn't have the 4100 lumen output this thing has, it'll stand up to pretty much anything you can throw at it.
Yeah, that L1 Lumamax is one very awesome flashlight.
If it is really WEP and not WPA/WPA2, it takes about 2 minutes to crack. Some simple googling could tell you that.
This is why everyone yells, "you need WPA at least!" and has been for years now.
Behold...The magics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl672fq_dfY
@David, good point. But wouldn't it be even more effective if the light was more focused? Or do you think the loss in efficiency (from a lens/modified reflector) would balance that out?
Now what they should do to promote it, "can it burn" I can just picture an iPhone being burnt. Cool stuff
I guess we could call this Light Sabre 1.0 Alpha
What grade are you in, lil' guy?
After working in a theaters for a few years I have no doubt light is capable of doing this. Although, seeing a light bulb burn plastic ain't very impressing (jells can burn). Granted this is portable, but it has a short battery life.
My question is what else can it burn?
I'll be impressed when it can discolor metal. Like a gobo after a few runs of a show (Some change colors like a piece of heat treated metal).
Smokey the Bear is pissed!!
Don't Torch™ me bro!
Link is farked...
They should market it as a wind-beatable bbq lighter or safe fireplace starter. It would sell big time.
nice, but the question is - "Can it burn/ignite Chuck Norris?"
Short Answer: NO.
Long Answer: Chuck Norris can run faster than speed of light.
Some video projectors have more than 4100 lumens, does that mean that their lightbeam also generates that much heat?
Totally photoshopped. Yup, definitely photoshopped.
First time I ever used a flashlight that gives a recoil.
This is so cool!great!
Is it a useful tool or just another thread to human being?
New things are always needed to be tested by time, to last forever or disappear soon.
[url]http://www.ishoesclub.com[/url]
Lasers do not emit black body radiation. They "lase" at a specific frequency or combination of discrete frequencies for non-monochromatic lasers. If this thing is setting stuff on fire, it has been tweaked for IR, NOT something desirable in a flashlight.
Who needs a blinding light that can be used to set off IEDs?
The guy that said something about candlepowerforums is right. This looks like a ripoff the custom USL (Ultimate Stealth Light) project from a few years ago. The guy did get overwhelmed with orders, but eventually got them out. My dad has one and it does set stuff on fire. I don't know about this one, but the USL has a safety switch on it so it can't accidently be turned on. Stupid wicked lasers, just stealing designs from the homebrew scene and charging obscene amounts for it.
Green lasers can do a much better job in a far too smaller package, they are more expensive though.
Infrared lasers can do it far more efficiently and no one can notice the 'beam' ... wicked ;)
www.cpfreviews.com
Everyone, it is just the bulb that is getting really hot. Obviously hot enough to be a hazard (primarily to the person holding it) but the actual light coming from the bulb is only enough to mildly warm sufaces up. This is similar to how an ordinary household light bulb can start a fire if it is touching the wrong materials at the wrong time.
However, this is still an insane flashlight (assuming 4100 lumens is for real).
Imperial Guard standard issue!
Not recommended for hiking in dry land nor shining it on your face to tell ghost stories.
Having your nosehairs catching fire will only add to the drama of the story.
@Ellianth
What about adding a magnifying glass to the Torch?
What sense does that make for a flashlight? How about showing it illuminating a dark area?
BTW, does anyone know what song is playing? This is quite massive background music, perfectly fitting the awesomeness of that torch...
WANT!
that is sweet...
Wicked Lasers did a new video using the Torch to cook scrambled eggs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsIHyRyETKg
No way this is real ! Wow ! I think this might be a joke. Imagine some kid staring into this flashlight ! What will happen to him ? This just can't really be real ? Can it ?
it is 300 dollars if you buy it from wickedlasers (not that bad of a company unlike what some people say.) and has a removable rechargable battery. extra lightbulbs have a 2000 hour life and are ten bucks. if anyone gets one tell us how they are.
Why would someone want to get a hold on this gadget? And it only has 15 minutes of battery life. It could be better if we could have two options to select from; a normal torch light and a destroyer.
http://giftgadgetgateway.com
i'd be more interested in the brightness of a flashlight than the heat it produces....
$300US
Matches are cheaper, thank you.
http://www.wickedlasers.com/lasers/The_Torch-74-0.html
I have a 500 lumen flashlight and it's too damn bright to use indoors. Even on a walk outside it can be overkill. So I can imagine that 4,100 lumens would have only a very niche use beyond a searchlight (ie scaring the crap out of and/or disabling someone).
Surefires are beautifully made, but they really burn through the batts. I've been into Black Bear flashlights lately - blackbearflashlights.com He's got a rechargeable 1150 lumen flashlight with a 50-minute runtime. I think I'd try that before I went to 4,100 lumens.