The laser is capable of performing all the tasks that the tools in a toolbox can. A toolbox holds rulers to measure, drills to make holes, hacksaws to cut metal, and welding equipmetny to join pieces of metal. Lasers are able to perform these tasks because laser light has many special properties. It is extremely bright, intense, very concentrated, highly directional (collimated), and coherent (very organized). Its collimation allows it to travel great distances without loosing much energy or brightness.

     Lasers can be focused into a tiny bright point to beocme superdrills. This colluminated point of light is much hotter than the surface of the sun and therefore can cut through metal bars or even diamonds, the hardest known substance, in merely seconds. The ability to drill holes in diamonds has greatly benefited the copper industry. Tiny holes drilled into dimonds are filled with soft copper metal. When the copper is hardened it is forced out of the diamond and comes out as fine copper wire. In the past expensive diamond drills had to be used to drill the tiny holes and they were only able to make two to three holes a day. The laser is able to cheaply produce hundrends of these holes in an hour. Laser beams are also used to burn holes in very soft material which are easily stretched or torn by other methods as well as to make microscopic holes such as the ones in spray cans.

     The laser is used to join pieces of metal together because it is much hotter, faster, safer, and more accurate than regular welding equipment. The laser has saved the Navy millions of dollars by introducing a better way to weld its ships. Tiny circuts in everyday appliances like computers amd calculators as well as automobiles, spark plugs, and batteries are welded by lasers.

     The laser is also used to cut metal and cloth. It had made the production of sawblades much safer and greatly reduced injuries on the job. The textile industry is now able to produce hundreds of patterns for clothing in an hour that have frayless edges by using the laser.

     The laser has the unique ability to measure long and short distances by lasers and mirrors. When Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969, it left a mirror on the moon's surface. This mirror was used to find the distance between the moon and earth more percisouly than it had been calculated before using the formula rate times time equals distance. The time the beam took to travel to the moon and back was calcualted and apporoprialtely plugged into the formula. So was the rate of travel for light, which is ofc course the speed of light. This yielded the distance. Thorught more experiments over a period of yeas, scientists have also found that the moon is moving away from the earth at a speed of four centimeters a year.

     The laser is used to place identification marks on any materials. It etches microscopic words or numbers which have also helped the police in tracking down stolen goods.