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Trains May Soon Come Equipped With Debris-Zapping Lasers
Molly McHugh writes: Holland's chief transportation service is testing a unique new way to clear the rails of fallen leaves and other small debris: by mounting lasers on the fronts of locomotives. The lasers will cause the leaves, which produce a condition commonly referred to as "slippery rail" in the fall and winter months, to vanish in a puff of smoke.
I'm guessing anything that directly touches the track is going to wear down fairly quickly, and anything that doesn't directly touch the track is going to miss wet leaves that are plastered to it.
I read the internet for the articles.
1) They're*
2) Dear God, people, attaching lasers to anything makes it epic cool. What the hell has happened to Slashdot?
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
The material immediately below the leaf is going to be a steel rail, which takes some work to get burning; but this would seem to be a concern if the tracks have some leaves on them; but also leaves/brush/grass/trash/etc. gathered around the tracks themselves. Ablating a thin layer of leaf from a big chunk of steel isn't so bad; but you only have to get unlucky occasionally for bits of burning leaf to fall from the clearance site and land in something suitably tindery and start a decent little fire.
"Trains May Soon Come Equipped With Debris-Zapping Lasers"
The lovely word "may" is such an abused word. There are MANY things that MAY come, on the other hand it MIGHT not as well. My money is on that it won't be here anytime soon. There are so many technical and impractical issues that arise, that this is nothing more than a "wow...lasers, we're so 1337" 21 century etc. Sure, it makes for a good read, and even better...the house-geek will have his say over the dinner table...say...did you know honey, they're putting lasers in front of the trains now to clear the tracks. OOOOh honey, that's just up your Dart Vader alley!
Guess what? I've been working with technology and prototyping for years, and it's a riot every time this actually surfaces as an article once in a blue moon, you can't just put high power lasers in front of trains, you'll have reflection issues, IR-radiation, people claiming blindness, and the kind of power you need to "zap" it clean is extreme, this isn't your average laser pointer that can be used to write your name into a cellphone or pop balloons, heck...even hefty industrial lasers used to cut metal are so focused and concentrated that if you wanted to use it to blast away debris...you'd need a HECK of a lot more space for it to be actually practical, not to mention the need for cooling.
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.