Can 5mW green lasers burn matches or pop balloons?

Yes.But not with out some work check out on YouTube the video on how to mod a green laser. Sorry no address link. If you cant find the video repost this with a comment to me and I will get either the steps or put a link. hope that helps. Plus check out the adds right below this.
Yes they can. There are 2 ways to go about this. One is called a pot mod, and one is more of an optical mod. I honestly do not prefer the pot mod as it will ruin your laser in less than 2 hours. With the optical mod, you are required to replace the lens in order to create a beam from the IR laser which in turn will burn matches or balloons. Keep in mind that this method is pretty annoying and takes time and patience as you have to get the lens a perfect distance from the laser in order to create that beam.