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Unit 7: Three-Phase Circuits

TRUE/FALSE

1. The horsepower rating of three-phase motors and the kilovolt-amp rating of three-phase transformers
are about 75% greater than for single-phase motors or transformers with a similar frame size.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: Three-Phase Circuits

2. In a wye-connected system, the line voltage is lower than the phase voltage by a factor of the square
root of 3 (1.732).

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: Wye Connections

3. In a wye-connected system, phase current and line current are the same.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: Wye Connections

4. The line current of a delta connection is higher than the phase current by a factor of the square root of
3 (1.732).

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: Delta Connections

5. The reason for the difference between line current and phase current in a delta connection is that
current flows through different windings at different times in a three-phase circuit.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: Delta Connections

6. A wye-connected three-phase alternator supplies power to a delta-connected resistive load. The

alternator has a line voltage of 480V. Each resistor of the delta load has 8 ohm of resistance. The load
is connected directly to the alternator. Therefore, the line voltage supplied by the alternator is 160V.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: Three-Phase Circuit Calculations

7. The amount of phase current can be determined using the Ohm’s law equation, IP(Load) = Z / EP(Load).

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: Three-Phase Circuit Calculations

8. Correcting the power factor of a three-phase circuit is similar to the procedure used to correct the
power factor of a single-phase circuit.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: Power Factor Correction

9. Motor power factor can be computed using this formula: PF = VA / P.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: Power Factor Correction

10. The inductive VARs in a three-phase circuit can be computed using the formula VARsL equals the
square root of VA2 – P2.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: Power Factor Correction

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. One reason why three-phase power is superior to single-phase power is that in a balanced three-phase
system, the conductors need be only about ____% of the size of conductors for a single-phase two-
wire system of the same kVA (kilovolt-amp) rating.
a. 33.3 c. 75
b. 60 d. 85
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Three-Phase Circuits

2. The wye, or ____, connection is made by connecting one end of each of the three-phase windings
together.
a. triangle c. star
b. square d. rectangle
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Wye Connections

3. A formula used to compute the voltage in a wye-connected system is ____.

a. EPhase = ELine / 1.732 c. EPhase = 1.732 / ELine
b. EPhase = ELine x 1.732 d. ELine = EPhase / 1.732
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Wye Connections

4. In a(n) ____ connection, line voltage and phase voltage are the same.
a. alpha c. delta
b. beta d. gamma
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Delta Connections

5. If the phase values of voltage and current in a three-phase circuit are known, the apparent power can
be computed using the formula VA = ____.
a. 3 x EPhase x IPhase c. 3 / (EPhase x IPhase)
b. (EPhase x IPhase) / 3 d. EPhase x IPhase
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Three-Phase Power

6. A delta-connected alternator is connected to a wye-connected resistive load. The alternator produces a

line voltage of 240V, and the resistors have a value of 6 ohm each. If EL(Load) = 240V, then EP(Load) =
____V.
a. 80 c. 160
b. 138.57 d. 415.68
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: Three-Phase Circuit Calculations

7. A delta-connected alternator is connected to a wye-connected resistive load. The alternator produces a

line voltage of 240V, and the resistors have a value of 6 ohm each. Using Ohm’s law, we determine
the amount of phase current, IP(Load) = ____A.
a. 13.3 c. 26.6
b. 23.1 d. 69.28
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: Three-Phase Circuit Calculations
 8. The phase windings of an alternator are connected in wye. The alternator produces a line voltage of
440V and supplies power to two resistive loads. One load contains resistors with a value of 4 ohm
each, connected in wye. The second load contains resistors with a value of 6 ohm each, connected in
delta. Both loads are connected directly to the output of the alternator. The line voltage for both loads
1 and 2 will be the same, ____V.
a. 73.33 c. 220
b. 219.09 d. 440
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: Three-Phase Circuit Calculations

9. The phase windings of an alternator are connected in wye. The alternator produces a line voltage of
440V and supplies power to two resistive loads. One load contains resistors with a value of 4 ohm
each, connected in wye. The second load contains resistors with a value of 6 ohm each, connected in
delta. Both loads are connected directly to the output of the alternator. To determine the amount of line
current needed for load 2, use the following formula: IL(Load 2) = IP(Load 2) x ____.
a. 1.732 c. 73.33
b. 3 d. 440
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: Three-Phase Circuit Calculations

10. A three-phase motor is connected to a 480V, 60-Hz line. A clamp-on ammeter indicates a running
current of 68A at full load, and a three-phase wattmeter indicates a true power of 40,277W. To solve
this problem, first find the amount of apparent power in the circuit using the formula ____.
a. VA = 1.732 / (EL x IL) c. VA = 1.732(EL + IL)
b. VA = (EL x IL) / 1.732 d. VA = 1.732 x EL x IL
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: Power Factor Correction
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
SOME INTERESTING APPLICATIONS
Application of lasers can be divided into two broad categories: (1)
commercial, industrial, military, and medical uses, and (2) scientific
research. In the first case, lasers are used to do something that has
been done in another way up to now (but not as well). Sometimes a
laser solves a particular problem. For example, one of the first
applications was in eye surgery, for “welding” a detached retina. The
laser is particularly useful here because laser light can penetrate
transparent objects such as the eye’s lens (Figure 19), eliminating
the need to make a cut into the eye.

Figure 19 Diagram of human eye showing laser

beam focused on retina.

Cornea
Lens
Optic Nerve
Beam angle
Fovea centralis
 Iris
Image
Retina

Surgeons have long wanted a better technique for treating extremely

small areas of tissue. A laser beam, focused into a small spot,
performs perfectly as a lilliputian surgical knife. An additional
advantage is that the beam, being of such high intensity, can also
sterilize or cauterize tissue as it cuts.

The narrowness of the laser beam has made it ideal for applications
requiring accurate alignment. Perhaps the ultimate here is the 2-
mile-long linear accelerator built by Stanford University for the
United States Atomic Energy Commission. “Arrow-straight” would not
have been nearly good enough to assure expected performance. A
laser beam was the only technique that could accomplish the
incredible task of keeping the ⅞ inch bore of the accelerator straight
along its 2-mile length. A remote monitoring system, based on the
same laser beam, tells operators when a section of the 35
accelerator has shifted out of line (due for example to small
earth movements) by more than about ¹/₃₂ inch—and identifies the
[14]
section.

Figure 20 shows the 2-mile-long “klystron gallery” that generates the

power for kicking the high-energy particles down the tube. The
gallery parallels the accelerator housing and lies 25 feet beneath it
(Figure 21). The large tube houses the optical alignment system and
supports the smaller accelerator tube above. Target patterns
dropped into the large tube at selected points produce an
interference pattern at the far end of the tube similar to the one in
Figure 13. Precise alignment of the tube is achieved by aiming the
laser at the center dot of the pattern. Then the section that is out of
line is physically moved until the dot appears in the proper place at
the other end of the tube. It is the extreme coherence of the laser
beam that makes this technique possible.
Having heard that laser light has bored through steel and is being
used in microwelding, some have asked whether the laser will ever
be used to weld bridge members and other structural girders. This is
missing the whole point of the laser: It would be like washing your
floor with a toothbrush (even one with extra stiff bristles)! There
would be no advantage to using lasers for large-scale welding;
present equipment for this operation is quite satisfactory and far less
wasteful of input power. The sensible approach is to use lasers
where existing processes leave something to be desired.

Until the advent of the laser, for example, there was no good way to
weld wires 0.001 inch in diameter. Nor was there a good way to bore
the tiny hole in a diamond that is used as a die for drawing such fine
wire. It used to take 2 days to drill a single diamond. With laser light
the operation takes 2 minutes—and there is no problem with rapid
wear of a cutting tool.

So much for the first category of application. In the second category,

namely use of the laser as a scientific tool, we enter a more
theoretical domain. Here we use coherent light as an 36
extension of ourselves, to probe into and to look at the world
around us.
Figure 20 A laser beam was used (and continues to
be used) for precise alignment of Stanford
University’s 2-mile-long linear accelerator. This view
shows the aboveground portion during construction.

Much experimental science is a matter of cooling, heating, grinding,

squeezing, or otherwise abusing matter to see how it will react. With
each new tool—ultrafast centrifuges, high- and low-pressure and
extreme-temperature chambers, intense magnetic fields, atomic
accelerators and so on—more has been learned about this still-
puzzling world.

Since coherent light is something new, we can do things to matter

that have not been done before, and see how it reacts. The laser is
being used to investigate many problem areas in biology, chemistry,
and physics. For example, sound waves of extremely high frequency
can be generated in matter by subjecting it to laser light. These
intense vibrations may have profound effects on materials.

37

Figure 21 Subterranean view of Stanford

accelerator housing. Alignment optics (laser systems)
are housed in the large tube, which also acts as
support for the smaller accelerator tube above it.
Figure 22 Laser beam spot as observed at the end
of the accelerator.

In the chemical field the sharp beam and monochromatic 38

energy of the laser hold great promise in the exploration of
molecular structure and the nature of chemical reactions. Chemical
reactions usually are set off by heat, agitation, electricity, or other
broadly applied means. None of these energizers allow the fine
control that the laser beam does. Its extremely fine beam can be
focused to a tiny spot, thus allowing chemical activity to be
pinpointed. But there is a second advantage: The monochromaticity
of coherent light also makes it possible to control the energy (in
addition to the intensity) of the beam accurately by simply varying
the wavelength. Thus it may be possible, for instance, to cause a
reaction in one group of molecules and not in another.

One application in chemistry that holds great promise is the use of

laser energy for causing specific chemical reactions such as those
involved in the making of plastics. Bell Telephone Laboratory
scientists have changed the styrene monomer (a “raw” plastic
material) to its final state, polystyrene, in this way. The success of
these and similar experiments elsewhere opens for exploration a
vast area of molecular phenomena.

In another scientific application, the laser is being used more and

more as a teaching tool. Coherence is a concept that formerly had to
be demonstrated by diagrams, formulas, and inference from
experiments. The laser makes it possible to see coherence “in
action”, along with many of the physical effects that result from it.
Such phenomena as diffraction, interference, the so-called Airy disc
patterns, and spatial harmonics, always difficult to demonstrate to
students in the abstract, can now be seen quite concretely.

Other interesting things can also be seen more plainly now. At the
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, laser light is being used to “look” at
plasmas; the result of one such look is shown in Figure 23. Plasmas
are ionized gaseous mixtures. Their study lies at the heart of a
constant search by atomic scientists for a self-sustained, controlled
fusion reaction that can be used to provide useful thermonuclear
power. This kind of reaction provides the almost unlimited energy in
the sun and other stars. It is more efficient and releases less
radioactivity than the other principal nuclear process, fission, 39
[15]
which is used in atomic-electric power plants.
Figure 23 Shadowgraph of deuterium discharge
taken in laser light. Turbulence of the plasma is
clearly seen.

Westinghouse Electric Corporation scientists, on the other hand,

have used the concentrated energy of the laser, not to look at, but
to produce a plasma (Figure 24). They blasted an aluminum target
the size of a pinhead with a laser beam, thereby vaporizing it and
creating a plasma. The calculated temperature in the electrically
charged gas was 3,000,000° centigrade. This is pretty hot, but still
not hot enough for a thermonuclear reaction.

40

Figure 24 Plasma heating by laser light.

 Diamagnetic loop
Laser beam
Vacuum chamber
Magnetic field
Magnetic coils
Electrostatic probe
Plasma
Lens
Mirror
To vacuum pump
Camera

The temperature of a plasma necessary to sustain a thermonuclear

reaction is so high (above 10,000,000°C) that any material is
vaporized instantly on coming into contact with it. The only means
developed so far to contain the plasma is an intense magnetic field,
or “magnetic bottle”; containment has been accomplished for only a
few thousandths of a second at most. The objective of the
Westinghouse research, which was supported by the Atomic Energy
Commission, was to study in detail the interaction of the plasma with
a magnetic field.

We do not have room to describe more applications in detail, but it

may be interesting to list a few other uses of lasers—some
commercial and some still experimental:

Earthquake prediction. 41
Measurement of “tides” in the earth’s crust under the sea.
Laser gyroscopes.
Highly accurate velocity measurement (useful in certain
assembly line and continuous manufacturing processes).
Scanner for analyzing photographs of bubble chamber tracks
and astronomical phenomena.
Computer output and storage systems; perhaps even complete
optical data processing systems.
Lightning-fast printing devices.
High-speed photography (Figure 25).
Missile tracking and accurate alignment of antennas.
 Automatic flaw spotter for big radio antennas.
Aircraft landing aid for poor weather conditions.
Fast, painless dental drill.
Cancer research.

Figure 25 Twenty-two caliber bullet and its shock

wave are photographed from the image produced by
a doubly exposed laser hologram. The original
hologram was exposed twice by a ruby laser within
half a thousandth of a second as the bullet sped past
at 2½ times the speed of sound.
 42

A MULTITUDE OF LASERS
It is almost self-evident that no single device, even one as incredible
as the laser, could accomplish all the feats mentioned in the
preceding paragraphs. After all, some of these applications require
high power but not extremely high monochromaticity, while in others
the reverse may be true. Yet, by its very nature, any laser produces
a beam with one, or at the most a few, wavelengths, and many
different materials would be needed to provide the many different
wavelengths required for all the tasks listed.

Also, the first laser was a pulsed device. Light energy was pumped in
and a bullet of energy emerged from it. Then the whole process had
to be repeated. Pulsed operation is fine for spot-welding and for
applications such as radar-type rangefinding, where pulses of energy
are normally used anyway. With lasers smaller objects can be
detected than when using the usual microwaves. But a pulsed
process is not useful for communications. In other words, pulsing is
good for certain applications but not for others.

And of course solid crystals are difficult to manufacture. Hence, it

was natural for laser pioneers to look hopefully at gases. Gas lasers
would be easier to make—simply fill a glass tube with the proper gas
and seal it.

But other advantages would accrue. For one thing the relatively
sparse population of emitting atoms in a gas provides an almost
ideally homogeneous medium. That is, the emitting atoms
(corresponding to chromium in the ruby crystal) are not
“contaminated” by the lattice or host atoms. Since only active atoms
need be used, the frequency coherence of a gas laser would
probably be even better than that of the crystal laser, they reasoned.
It was less than a year after the development of the ruby laser that
Ali Javan of Bell Telephone Laboratories proposed a gas laser
employing a mixture of helium and neon gases. This was an
ingeniously contrived partnership whereby one gas did the
energizing and the other did the amplifying. Gas lasers now utilize
many different gases for different wavelength outputs and powers
and provide the “purest” light of all. An additional advantage is that
the optical pumping light could be dispensed with. An input of 43
radio waves of the proper frequency did the job very nicely.

But most significant of all, Javan’s gas laser provided the first
continuous output. This is commonly referred to as CW (continuous
wave) operation. The distinction between pulsed and CW operation
is like the difference between baking one loaf of bread at a time and
putting the ingredients in one end of a baking machine and having a
continuous loaf emerge at the other.

When a non-expert thinks of a laser, he is apt to think of power—

blinding flashes of energy—as illustrated in Figure 26. As we know,
this is only a small part of the capability of the laser. Nevertheless,
since lasers are often specified in terms of power output it may be
well to discuss this aspect.

The two units generally used are joules and watts. You are familiar
with a watt and have an idea of its magnitude: think, for example, of
a 15-watt or a 150-watt bulb. A watt is a unit of power; it is the rate
at which (electrical) work is being done.
Figure 26 High power is demonstrated as a laser
beam blasts through metal chain.

The joule is a unit of energy and can be thought of as the 44

total capacity to do work. One joule is equivalent to 1 watt-
second, or 1 watt applied for 1 second. But it can also mean a 10-
watt burst of laser light lasting 0.1 second, or a billion watts lasting a
billionth of a second.

In general, the crystal (ruby) lasers are the most powerful, although
other recently introduced materials, such as liquids (see Figure 27)
and specially prepared glass, are providing competition. With proper
auxiliary equipment, bursts of several billion watts have been
achieved; but the burst lasts only about 100 millionths of a second.
For certain uses, that’s just what is wanted: a highly concentrated
burst of energy that does its work without giving the material being
“shot” a chance to heat up and spread the energy, perhaps
damaging adjacent areas.
Figure 27 Active substance for a modern liquid laser
is made in an uncomplicated 10-minute procedure.
Bluish powder of the rare earth, neodymium, is
dissolved in a solution of selenium oxychloride and
sealed in a glass tube.

Since the joule gives a measure of the total energy in a laser 45

burst it is not applicable to CW output. Power in this area
began low—in the milliwatt (one thousandth of a watt) region—but
has been creeping up steadily. A recent gas laser utilizing carbon
dioxide has already reached 550 watts of continuous infrared
radiation. This is the giant 44-footer shown in Figure 28. An
advantage of gas (and liquid) lasers is that they can be made just
about as large as one wishes. By way of comparison, the smallest
gas laser in use is shown in Figure 29.
Figure 28 A giant 44-foot gas laser produces 550
watts of continuous power and is expected to reach
1000 watts. Glowing of the tube comes from gas
discharge, not from laser light, which is in the
infrared region and cannot be seen.

One of the least satisfactory aspects of the laser has been its
notoriously low efficiency. For a while the best that could be
accomplished was about 1%. That is, a hundred watts of light had to
be put in to get 1 watt of coherent light out. In gas lasers the
efficiency was even lower, ranging from 0.01% to 0.1%.

In gas lasers this was no great problem since high power was not
the objective. But with the high-power solid lasers, pumping power
could be a major undertaking. A high-power laser pump built 46
by Westinghouse Research Laboratories handles 70,000 joules.
In more familiar terms, the peak power input while the pump is on is
about 100,000,000 watts. For a brief instant this is roughly equal to
all the electrical power needs of a city of 100,000 people.

Two relatively new developments have changed the efficiency levels.

One, the carbon dioxide gas laser, is quite efficient, with the figure
having passed 15%. The second is the injection, or semiconductor
laser, in which efficiencies of more than 40% have been obtained.
Unless unforeseen difficulties arise this figure is expected to continue
to rise to a theoretical maximum of close to 100%.
Figure 29 A miniature gas laser produces
continuous output in visible red region.

The semiconductor laser is to solid and gas lasers what the

transistor was to the vacuum tube; all the functions of the laser have
been packed into a tiny semiconductor crystal. In this case, electrons
and “holes” (vacancies in the crystal structure that act like positive
charges) accomplish the job done by excited atoms in the other
types. That is, when they are stimulated they fall from upper energy
states to lower ones, and emit coherent radiation in the process.
Aside from this the principle of operation is the same.

The device itself, however, is vastly different. For one thing it is 47

about the size of this letter “o” (Figure 30). For another, it is
self-contained; since it can convert electric current directly into laser
light—the first time this has been possible—an external pumping
source is not required. This makes it possible to modulate the beam
by simply modulating the current. (A different approach has been to
modulate a magnetic field around the device. This, it turns out, can
also be done with some newer solid crystal lasers.)

An additional advantage offered by the semiconductor laser is

simplicity. There are no gases or liquids to deal with, no glassware to
break, and no mirrors to align. Although it will not deliver high
power, it can already deliver enough CW power for certain
communications purposes. Its simplicity, efficiency, and light weight
make it ideal for use in space.
Figure 30 A tiny injection laser works in infrared
region. The beam is visible because photo was taken
with infrared film. The laser itself is a tiny crystal of
gallium arsenide inside the metal mount being held
between the fingers.

48
COMMUNICATIONS
Future deep space missions are expected to require extremely high
[16]
data transmission rates (on the order of a million bits per second)
to relay the huge quantities of scientific and engineering information
gathered by the spacecraft. Higher data rates are necessary to
increase both the total capacity and the speed of transmission. By
comparison, the Mariner-4 spacecraft that sent back TV pictures of
Mars had a data rate of only eight bits per second—a hundred
thousand times too small for future missions. The use of lasers
would mean that results could be transmitted to earth in seconds
instead of the 8 hours it took for the photos to be sent from Mariner-
4.

One of the problems to be solved in using lasers for deep space

communication, oddly enough, is that of pointing accuracy. Since the
beam of laser energy is narrow, it would be possible for the radiation
to miss the earth altogether and be lost entirely unless the laser
were pointed at the receiver with extreme precision. Aiming a gun at
a target 50 yards away is one thing; aiming a laser from an
unmanned spacecraft 100 million miles away is quite another. It is
believed, however, that present techniques can cope with the
problem.

Another peculiarity of laser communication is that it will probably be

accomplished faster and more readily in space than here on earth.
Powerful though laser light may be, it is light and is therefore
impeded to some extent by our atmosphere even under good
conditions. Data transmissions of 20 and 30 miles have already been
accomplished in good weather with lasers.
But if you have ever tried to force a searchlight beam or shine
automobile headlights through heavy fog, rain, or snow, you will
appreciate the magnitude of the problem under these conditions.
The use of infrared frequencies helps to some extent, since infrared
is somewhat more penetrating, but the poor-weather problem is a
serious one.

A possible solution is the use of “light pipes”, similar to the 49

wave guides already in use for certain microwave applications
over short distances. But as often happens, new developments
create new needs; how, for example, can we get the laser beam to
stay centered in the pipe and follow curves? A series of closely
spaced lenses, about 1000 per mile, probably would accomplish this,
but too much light would be lost by scattering from the many lens
surfaces.

Scientists are experimenting with a new kind of “lens”, one that uses
variations in the density of gases to focus and guide the beam
automatically. Since there are no surfaces in the path of the light
beam, and since the gas is transparent and free of turbulence, the
laser beam is not appreciably weakened or scattered as it travels
through the pipe.
Figure 31 Laser light beam being guided through a
“light pipe” by a gas “lens”. Heating coil (lower left)
or mixture of gases (lower right) are two possible
ways of maintaining proper density gradient in the
gas.

Figure 31 shows how the gas focusing principle might be used to

guide a beam through a curving pipe. The shading represents the
density of the gas. Several means have been developed to keep the
gas denser in the center than around the outside. When the 50
pipe curves, the light beam starts moving off the axis of the
pipe. The gas then acts like a prism, deflecting the light beam in the
direction of the curvature of the “prism”.

In communication between distant space and earth, a light pipe

might be a little cumbersome; hence it may prove necessary to set
up an intermediate orbiting relay station that will, particularly in
cases of poor weather, intercept the incoming laser beam and
convert it to radio frequencies that can penetrate our atmosphere
with greater reliability.

Powering space-borne lasers will, of course, be a problem. Indeed

one of the major unsolved problems in production of spacecraft and
long-term satellites is the provision of an adequate supply of power.
Fuel cells and solar cells have helped but do not give the whole
[17]
answer.

One other approach has already been developed: a sun-pumped

laser. Sunlight focused onto the side of the laser (see Figure 32)
provides the pumping power, enabling the device to put out 1 watt
of continuous infrared radiation, enough for special space
applications. Descendents of this device could produce visible light if
this is deemed desirable.

Another approach, using chemical lasers, is even more intriguing and

may have greater consequences. Chemical lasers will derive their
energy from their internal chemistry rather than from the outside. A
mixture of two chemicals may be all that is needed to initiate laser
action aboard a spacecraft or satellite. (Chemical lasers also offer the
promise of even greater concentrations of power than have been
achieved heretofore, which may make them useful in plasma
research.)

With all these possibilities, it may still be that spacecraft will need
more power than is available on board. The narrow beam of the
laser offers one more fascinating possibility, especially in the case of
satellites relatively near earth. The light of a laser might actually be
used to beam energy to a receiver, either for immediate use or 51
storage. It would then become possible to “refuel” satellites at
will, giving them much greater capabilities.

If available laser power is great enough, laser beams might even be

used to push satellites back into their proper orbits when they begin
to wander off course, as they almost invariably do after a while.
Figure 32 Artist’s rendering of sun-pumped laser as
it would operate in space. The sun’s rays are
collected by a parabolic reflector and are focused on
the laser’s surface by two cylindrical mirrors.

Sun
Parabolic Collector
Hyperbolic-cylindric secondary mirror
Semi-circular-cylindric tertiary mirror
Laser beam

52
A LASER IN YOUR FUTURE?
Atomic energy, only a scientific dream a few short years ago, is now
providing needed power in many parts of the world. In the same
way, the laser, also an atomic phenomenon, has made its way out of
the laboratory and into the fields of medicine, commerce, and
industry. If it hasn’t touched your life as yet, you need only be
patient. It will.

Indeed the most exciting probability of all is that lasers undoubtedly

will change our lives in ways we cannot even conceive of now.
Figure 33 Tiny hole drilled in paper clip
demonstrates remarkable capability of laser beam.
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