We have an old microscope and a camera adapter for it. Occasionally we dig it out, and light some small stuff up. Several weeks ago my son’s science workbook had a multiple choice question, roughly “which of these would look different under a microscope”
- salt in water
- sugar in water
- pollen in water
An experiment seemed in order. After exploring those boring solutions we explored other things. The first is the tip of a technical pen. I believe the narrow diameter part is the wire, and the large diameter is the tube. I suppose the fillet is a meniscus of ink.
Rotring Technical Pen Tip
The feather is cool enough to look at, but within the feather is a single fiber from a blue yarn that my wife was crocheting with.
A Feather and a Colored Thread
At the request of my son, I plucked one of my precious head hairs. I had hoped to see the surface structure of the hair, a tiny scaled surface. It is visible, but not clearly. Still, pretty cool.
A Hair at the Root
We looked at paper, too. But paper was not that interesting until we compared three different types. Notebook paper, a Kleenex, and slice of technical drawing paper (like vellum). The difference between the fibers is amazing.
A Tissue and a Strip of Technical Drawing Paper
My son wanted to look at candle wax too, but the toothpick we used to get it is far more interesting.
Toothpick with Candle Wax
You think that milk has been homogenized and so it should look like a smooth, uniform material. I was fascinated to observe a sandy or granular structure under an optical microscope. The microscope cannot really resolve the individual particles, but it can show that the particles are there.
Milk
The final picture is shows the microchip inside a slow-fade RGB LED. This LED fades through the gamut of colors, and macroscopically looks identical to any other LED. The picture is blurry because it is imaged through the acrylic body of the LED. Nevertheless, the microchip structure is visible. At the bottom you can see four solder joints, one for ground (or Vcc) and red, green, and blue components.
Microchip Inside a Slow-fade LED
