Some Really Cool Scanning Electron Microscope Pics
by Mark on 8/24/2006 (0)
What is a Scanning Electron Microscope? A conventional light microscope uses a series of glass lenses to bend light waves and create a magnified image.The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) creates the magnified images by using electrons instead of light waves.The SEM shows very detailed 3-dimensional images at much higher magnifications than is possible with a light microscope. The images created without light waves are thus rendered black and white. Here are some of the coolest and compelling SEM pics we found, compiled for your enjoyment. Wow!
The size of an ant and a tick with its babies show the delicacy of a planetary gear for micro motors. Two of these motors power the world's smallest helicopter. This micro mechanical miracle was manufactured by the institute for micro technics in Mainz, Germany
Ant holding a microchip
Termite head
A scale sensitive enough to weigh a virus. Members of the Cornell research group headed by engineering professor Harold Craighead report they have used tiny oscillating cantilevers to detect masses as small as 6 attograms by noting the change an added mass produces in the frequency of vibration. Above photo shows a single cell bound to an antibody layer on top of the oscillator. The cell is 1.43 micrometers long and 730 nanometers wide. Its mass was calculated at 665 femtograms.
The first experimental image of lithium atoms from a transmission electron microscope: The image shows the arrangement of lithium ions among cobalt and oxygen atoms in the compound lithium cobalt oxide. (LiCoO2)
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