Firing Laser Beams Could Make It Rain, Study Says

While man's attempts to manipulate the weather can be traced throughout history, now scientists at the University of Geneva have successfully tested out a rainmaking technique triggered by shooting laser beams into the sky, reports The Guardian.

Published in Nature Communications Journal, the experiment entailed firing laser beams into the air, which formed nitric acid molecules and drew condensation for water molecules, according to The Telegraph.

The researchers spent 113 hours shooting laser beams across Switzerland's Rhône river. Though the experiment didn't bring about water drops big enough to qualify as actual rain, Wired reports the effects of the lasers were substantial enough for scientists to continue further work on laser-assisted water condensation.

Jérôme Kasparian, a physicist at the University of Geneva who led the study, told Fox News, "We are still far from laser-induced rainmaking." Though the lasers brought about condensation and water particles the size of a few microns, according to Kasparian, "They should be 10 to 100 times larger to produce actual rain."

But this isn't the first time scientists have induced rain. Wired explains weather modification techniques -- known as cloud seeding -- have been around for some time and involve shooting hazardous chemicals into the air, such as silver iodide. Too much of the substance can cause "iodism, which manifests as skin rashes, headaches, anemia, irritation of mucous membranes and depression."

Unlike silver iodine, one of the major benefits to using lasers to assist in water condensation is control. "You can also turn the laser on and off at will, which makes it easier to assess whether it has any effect," Kasparian tells Wired.

If further breakthroughs are made with laser-assisted water condensation, it could help bring about rain in arid regions of the world. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world has become more drought-prone over the last 25 years, and will see an increased frequency of droughts in the future. Given that Texas is experiencing its worst drought since the 1950's, and the Somalia's drought has put 10 million lives at risk, this rainmaking technique could prove to be quite timely.

----

Comments

[Tim The Enchanter]

01:53 AM on 09/06/2011

Nitric acid rain. I like the sound of THAT.

[GualtierREALITY]

10:03 AM on 09/01/2011

nooooo lil wayne makes it rain!

[chocolateandcheese]

03:24 AM on 09/01/2011

I don't need no lasers to make it rain. All I need's my skillz

[Andrew Harvey]

10:51 PM on 08/31/2011

Great, now we have something to argue about. To whom does that cloud belong? Why are you stealing rain that was destined for my property? Etc...

[trumphent]

03:17 AM on 09/01/2011

Who was it? Samuel Clemens? "Whiskey's for drinking. Water's for fightn' over."

[twenty2727seven]

10:41 PM on 08/31/2011

Let's be real here, this is nerds with lasers, not much else.

[roscoewpa]

10:28 PM on 08/31/2011

Great they will try it over Texas and Bacchmann can announce Perrys a God. Maybe we can hold our cups out and catch some drinking water before they poison or tax it.

[lightist]

10:08 PM on 08/31/2011

Can a laser cause rainstorms? No doubt.

Can HAARP cause hurricaines, earthquakes, tsunami's?

I'll take answers from the non-thinkers. More entertaining to see how crazy they get...

[palindrom]

11:04 PM on 08/31/2011

Ha!

Like you, I've been amazed at the jaw-droppingly goofy HAARP conspiracy theories. I teach in a physics department that has researchers who use HAARP, including this one exceptionally mild-mannered grad student. I like to kid him about his evil plans for world domination.

Sorry, I'm not a non-thinker, but I couldn't resist. It may draw some entertaining comments, from those folks who are like rotating handles, if you catch my drift.

[Starling5]

04:02 AM on 09/01/2011

Liar.

[Starling5]

04:17 AM on 09/01/2011

So why did you bring the subject up, since the article didn't mention anything about hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis?..........BUT I DID, previously, in an earlier post.

Are you paid to debunk "crazy non-thinkers" on this sight?

Kindly find yourself another day job.

[missouriwatcher]

09:50 PM on 08/31/2011

I would think that it would be about as effective as firing a cannon into the sky. Maybe a little rain dance would produce.

[ChaCubed]

08:41 PM on 08/31/2011

Yay: finally something to do with all the laser lights bought by pet owners to entertain their pets who, instead of being entertained, looked at the red dot, yawned, and walked away.

Combine those laser lights with all the laser lights confiscated by parents, teachers, and other authorities; and all those laser lights which have no use because their presenter-owners have lost their jobs: then tell us what time and which direction to point them, and we'll get it done!

:-)

[Syl 13]

08:15 PM on 08/31/2011

I say go for it. I'm a big believer in science being our best hope of survival and advancement. Controlling the weather changes us from passive victims of nature to its masters. We're already having an inordinate impact on the planet, we might as well do so deliberately and to our (and other organisms') benefit rather than unwittingly and to our detriment. It'd be great if we simply changed our more destructive behaviors, but until we do, we should mitigate the damage.

When rain is about to fall over the ocean, wasting thousands of gallons of precious fresh water, zap the clouds so they don't drop their water until over the land. When the clouds near a drought area, zap them again to start raining, and zap them again when they've dropped enough. Repeat until that area has received sufficient water. Do the reverse (keep the clouds from raining until over the ocean) for areas in risk of flooding.

[Starling5]

04:09 AM on 09/01/2011

That is the most unconscionable and irresponsible post I have ever read.
It's also downright stupid.

[Genders]

06:32 PM on 08/31/2011

Check out this cool Terawatt, fs laser:
http://www.teramobile.org/publications/publis_tm.pdf

[Kristin Talbott]

06:14 PM on 08/31/2011

This game of trying to find ways to mitigate the damage we've already done by doing yet more things that we don't understand the long-term implications of isn't a game we have a whole lot of chance of winning.

In fact, I'd put our chances at pretty much zero.

[Sing Out and Slap Iron]

05:37 PM on 08/31/2011

Specially if they're mounted to the head of a freakin' shark!

[hazbro24]

04:48 PM on 08/31/2011

If TX really want's to make it rain, they need to dump Perry and bring in Pacman Jones.

[Badfinger1]

04:33 PM on 08/31/2011

...Hopefully, they will be able to create enough water so that I can finally get those sharks with freakin laser beams attached to their heads...Which would be an aquatic irony....