When the planet Alderaan is about to be destroyed by the Death Star, the Death Star fires the beam to Alderaan & if you watch closely you can see Alderaan explodes BEFORE it is hit by the beam.
Actually, I have read in some source books that the light produced by lasers is actually just a byproduct of the energy in the beam, which hits an object first. The light is harmless; the invisible energy is deadly.
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