LGP 26 - Day 1 - Onion Peel
Jun 09, 2026 • 1:43 PM UTC
India
340x Magnification
Microorganisms
Saloni Buradkar
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After observing the Fern Rhizome under the foldscope, and being left aghast after seeing its vibrancy and structure, our instructor, Professor Anupma Harshal, provided us diced up onion pieces to observe onion cells using the foldscope !
It was our first time in the course where we would be preparing our own slides, and we were all very excited.
We used our hands to pull out a part of the onion membrane and used tape to tape the membrane to the glass slide.
We then proceeded to observe the onion cells using the foldscope !
It was our first time in the course where we would be preparing our own slides, and we were all very excited.
We used our hands to pull out a part of the onion membrane and used tape to tape the membrane to the glass slide.
We then proceeded to observe the onion cells using the foldscope !
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This was taken using the 50x lens. We could see all of the cells so clearly ! One would think the cells would have a purplish - pinkish hue because of how the outer layer of an onion is coloured, but these cells were beautifully transparent. They were rectangular in nature, compacted and stacked like a brick wall. The cells walls were also well defined, and you could differentiate cells quite easily.
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This picture was also taken by the 50x lens but the background lighting was different. Here you can see the air bubbles more clearly too. It kind of reminded me of a human fingerprint.
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Oh how much I love the 140x lens ! It enlarged the cells just enough to observe them clearly, and you could see the cell walls, and cell structure, and even the air bubbles. For me, this was my favourite view of the onion sample out of all the three lenses. You could see the quadrilateral structure of the cells even more clearly and they were well defined, and you could observe darker shapes against the lighter ones. When you moved around the field, you could also see some string-like or cobweb-like structures, which were definitely quite an intriguing find.
And now comes my favourite picture from the entire session :
And now comes my favourite picture from the entire session :
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Ta Da ! This was an amazing picture I managed to capture with the help of my professor. You could even see the nucleus of some of the cells. Also, despite not being able to capture it on camera, I was also able to observe the water content (moisture) of the onion membrane move around, and even showed my friends.
These aren't very clear shots, but this is what I observed through the 340x lens. You could see the individual cells, and with some fine tuning the view was amazing.
Me and my friends even had some fun after we used our phone's flashlights, and shone those below the samples and then took our pictures.
Me and my friends even had some fun after we used our phone's flashlights, and shone those below the samples and then took our pictures.
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It looked nothing short of a disco party to say the least - a microbial one !
This entire experience did not go without its problems, as majority of us were new to this amazing instrument, and faced issues with making slides and ensuring the lens remained focused and the field view was clear. But in the end, everyone enjoyed looking at each other's samples and showing each other their observations.
By the end of this session, we were all energised and eager to observe more samples of various items, after being blown away by how a simple food item we see every day can be transformed into something so magical and beautiful, just by looking through a Foldscope lens.
This entire experience did not go without its problems, as majority of us were new to this amazing instrument, and faced issues with making slides and ensuring the lens remained focused and the field view was clear. But in the end, everyone enjoyed looking at each other's samples and showing each other their observations.
By the end of this session, we were all energised and eager to observe more samples of various items, after being blown away by how a simple food item we see every day can be transformed into something so magical and beautiful, just by looking through a Foldscope lens.
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