microscopy

Big SEM: online

May 31, 2015

I recently got Milly the big SEM online. She had a ton off issues that I’ll chronicle in future posts. But rather than dwell on her past, let’s see what she can do.

Remember that 2mm stainless screw?  Here it is again, with my finger for scale:

IMG_20150521_202032

And here is the gap between two threads, up close and personal:

Extreme closeup!

Here are some more samples. We’ll look at the stuff on the right-hand strip for now:

Eight samples for Milly. We'll look at the ones on the right for now.

They are (from top to bottom):

  1. Pollen from a random tree (not sure of the species). Those pods contain the pollen; the actual pollen is too small to see in that shot.
  2. dandelion seed. The SEM photos are of the bushy head and a single fiber.
  3. Highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (which we’ll skip for now)
  4. Crystalline boron

Pollen

pollen, x450

pollen, x1200

capture_20150523_163043

 

Dandelion seed head

capture_20150525_171048

 

Dandelion seed fiber

capture_20150523_194510

 

capture_20150523_160340

 

capture_20150523_153826

Boron

Crystalline boron

 

capture_20150523_202546

 

capture_20150523_203519

 

capture_20150523_203457

I’m still learning how to use Milly as a camera (so many variables!) but I’m really pleased with this first batch of shots.

Getting better contrast on organics will be a lot easier once I get the sputter coater online. There are a bunch more photos (including hematite and more) in the gallery.