Today’s lab visits of looking at microscopes surprised me. I never knew that there existed so many versatile microscopes—and each one serves and works in similar, yet different ways. We observed the electron microscope, which removes all air and water (using a vacuum) from the sample prior to examination. This microscope allows for strong magnification projected through black-and-white imaging. However, there is also a microscope that allows for live samples, called the confocal microscope, and thus, it is used to treat bacteria samples and living samples. Finally, we visited the STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscope), which completely amazed me. I could have never imagined that particles that tiny could be examined and researched. Experiencing these tiny microscopes confirmed how far the world is progressing and the extent to which research is being performed. When researching more about STMs, the Nobel Prize website describes the microscopes as “a type of electron microscope that shows three-dimensional images of a sample”.
Today was also the first day that I began to comprehend the idea of nanotechnology. It is surreal that a nanometer is one billionth of a meter. According to Wikipedia, nanotechnology generally deals with “structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller,
involves developing materials or devices within that size”.
In conclusion, today was very eventful and a successful preview to interest me in the rest of the program. I am looking forward to combining my passion for science with an artistic approach and seeing what other guest speakers and activities we will be introduced to.
http://i318.photobucket.com/albums/mm425/hoops4kobe/Stm4.jpg
STM
http://i318.photobucket.com/albums/mm425/hoops4kobe/confocalMicroscope.jpg
Confocal Microscope
http://i318.photobucket.com/albums/mm425/hoops4kobe/em100kvt.jpg
Electron Microscope
http://www.unl.edu/CMRAcfem/em.htm
http://physics.nist.gov/GenInt/STM/text.html
http://www.cas.muohio.edu/mbi-ws/microscopes/confocal.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanotechnology
http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/microscopes/scanning/index.html