Using a laser to heat nitrogen gas.

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Would anyone happen to know the frequency and type of laser one could use to do this? I'm looking to heat the nitrogen gas in ambient pressure to 400F in less than a few milliseconds, almost instantly if possible. It's part of my career as a mad scientist developing non-lethal action toolbelt stuff for superheros.

Wait>> Superhero toolbelt!>!?

Haha, awsome!

Although the amount of energy you need would require a huge laser and power supply- are you trying to make like a gas propelled hook or something?

Look what they do with airbags- a small explosive forms lots of gas because of combustion, which inflates a bag. You might use the same thing but with a harpoon sealing into a tube.

Or maybe slightly less dangerous, the co2 packs used for whipped cream and paintball guns. Small, inexpensive, and not likely to harm anyone.


But.. for all practical purposes the explosive would make a very usable grappling hook.

Nitrogen is highly reactive. Perhaps you could add it with another element/compound and use the laser to cause a directed explosion. Maybe more realistically you could take two highly reactive compounds, separate them, and use a switch to combine them, causing an explosion.

I imagine this would get expensive, however.

i wouldnt be using lasers but induced microwave heating similar to that in the ITER and JET fusion experiments,

on a small scale it would be much cheaper and you even have the possibility of building the probe into the nozzle itself, perhaps even mount it pointing out the nozzle so all the heating happens at the base of the nozzle focal point.

that said you would be swithcing the hazards of high power lasers out with the hazards microwave radiation.

i think the correct frequency would be produced by a nitrogen based laser but as ruveyn said nitrogen is reactive and another gas may be preferable.

I guess you would need a light frequency in which nitrogen is less transparent that for the visble spectrum of light. Does that exist? Everyday life show nitrogen as being neraly invisible, a laser would just goe through without heating it.

How can I heat air then drawn in though an inlet to 400F then? It has to be just outside air for this application, any altitude. It must be lightweight and heat the air nearly instantaneous, that is why I thought of a laser (or maser - "Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation", a phaser would be cool too...) . A fresh volume of air about the size of a cylinder 2' across by 3.5 to 4' long every 100/th of a second is what needs to be heated.

Many lasers are not visible, infrared for instance.

5×10^13 Hertz is the resonant frequency of nitrogen.