[AdamSelene235]

The atmosphere doesn't absorb that much light. Sunlight is only attenuated by about half going through several miles of atmosphere.

Eggszactly

Furthermore, If you know where the atmospheric high transmission windows are, you can pick a laser wavelength that dodges all the molecular absorptions, etc.

[ableChair]

The atmosphere doesn't absorb that much light. Sunlight is only attenuated by about half going through several miles of atmosphere.

Eggszactly

Both of you are wrong on two points. First, natural sunlight can't be compared to laser light. Natural light is not coherent, laser light is. Secondly, sunlight energy attenuation by the atmosphere is FAR greater than that. What you are talking about is the absorption by the troposphere, and that's 50% of the incident sunlight at that point, not the total. Enormous amounts of energy are absorbed in the thermosphere, long before the light reaches the troposphere. You're also confusing radiative energy with convection. Overall, only 5% of the radiative energy of the sun reaches the Earth's surface, not 50%. 50% of the TOTAL energy reaches the Earth, but all of that energy is not radiative, which is what we're talking about here. Furthermore, the process of diffraction of coherent light versus non-coherent light is a totally different process.