# Help, I opened a dvd drive.



## draftr376

A dvd got stuck in the drive, so, being cheap, I ignored the "do not open" warnings, opened the drive and removed my dvd. Then my curiosity got the best of me and I tried searching online to see what the effects of the radiation exposure are, without much luck. It seems like there may be some terillium in there, but I don't know how much or if it escaped. I'm wondering if any of you know how much longer I have to live, or am I just being paranoid


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## Lorand

You could be exposed to radiation only if watching John Travolta in "Broken Arrow" on DVD...  
That radiation warning refers to exposure to the laser beam only. It could damage your eye's retina only if looking perpendicular to the drive into the drive's lens system.
But if you opened that drive when the computer was turned off, then no need to worry.


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## draftr376

What about the warning about invisible radiation?


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## Lorand

That's the laser beam.


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## Praetor

> It seems like there may be some terillium in there, but I don't know how much or if it escaped. I'm wondering if any of you know how much longer I have to live


WOW



> What about the warning about invisible radiation?


WOW



> That's the laser beam.


Well technically its the radiation firing through the mechanism that generates the laser 



DUDE YOULL BE FINE.


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## Lorand

> its the radiation firing through the mechanism that generates the laser


What mechanism? Inside an optical drive the light is emitted by a laser diode.

In CD drives the laser beam wavelength is 780 nm, so it's in infrared region (thus invisible for the human eye). DVDs are read at 650 nm wavelength (red), but for compatibility issues, the DVD drives have dual laser diode (for reading both DVDs and CDs). In both cases there are some invisible electromagnetic radiations and because the laser beam is very focalized it could damage your eye's retina if looking straight into the beam (without actually seeing it).
But this could happen only when the drive is in use (else the laser beam is off).

Almost forgot: once I repaired a laser printer and turned it on when it was in pieces. And I'm not dead yet.  (Note that the CD drive laser's power is about 0.5 mW, but a printer's laser emits at approx. 6 mW.)


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## draftr376

I see. So there isn't like a little nuclear reactor in there that will spew radiation when the  cover's off? Sorry, I'm technologically challenged.


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## Praetor

> What mechanism? Inside an optical drive the light is emitted by a laser diode.


Mechanism = The circuity surrounding and including that laser diode



> So there isn't like a little nuclear reactor in there that will spew radiation when the cover's off?


No, quite a few people run their drives with the cover off (for various reasons) and dont die horribly from radiation


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## Lorand

The laser diode is just like a regular diode, so the circuitry that's driving it has nothing special. It may only cause radio interferences just like the circuitry in the keyboard. But with those tight regulations even this could be negligible.


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