Sydney’s Foldscope: Extra Credit

A single grain of salt. We can see it is clear as the light is coming through it with no color, and we can see the large crystalline structure evident from the relatively cornered edges of the grain.
This sample was gathered at 4:28 pm on 5/12/19 from a plastic utensil pack from Red Door Cafe at Hameetman. To collect this sample I just poured a little salt on my slide, put the cover slip on, then taped it down.

This is an image of ground peppercorns. We can see it is not crystalline like salt, as there is various shaped and sizes with no clear pattern or trends to each flake.
This sample was gathered at 4:29 pm on 5/12/19 from Red Door Cafe at Hameetman. To collect this sample I took a plastic utensil pack and took out the pepper and poured a little onto my slide then covered with my cover slip and taped down.

This is flour. The individual grains of flour are much smaller than that of salt or pepper. We can feel this difference, as flour’s softer and smoother texture is due to the smaller individual pieces.
This sample was gathered at 4:34 pm on 5/12/19 from the Alley 1 kitchen in Fleming house. To collect this sample, I took a spoon and scooped a little bit of flour onto my slide which I then covered with my cover slip and taped down.

This is cheek cells. We can see a bunch of little cells all clustered together. We cannot however see any organelles as the zoom power of a Foldscope is less than that of a regular microscope.
This sample was collected at 4:37 pm on 5/12/19 from the inside of my cheek (which I figured people didn’t want to see the inside of my mouth). To collect this sample I used a q tip and swabbed my cheek for ten seconds then wiped the q tip onto my slide.

This is the cross section view of an orange leaf. We can see some cells lining the walls of the leaf. The somewhat thicker layer on the right is the top of the leaf, as it needs more protection on top as well as the fact chloroplasts are much more concentrated on top of the leaf.
This sample was gathered at 4:41 pm on 5/12/19 in Fleming courtyard from one of the orange trees. To collect this I plucked one of the leaves, then with a pair of scissors cut a very thin cross section.

This is one leaf of a tiny tiny weed. We can see a little hook on the end of each individual leaf that is invisible to the naked eye.
This little sample was a weed wedges between the brick and turf in Fleming courtyard, and was collected at 4:43 pm on 5/12/19. To get this sample I took one individual leaf with five little bumps, the image is of one of these little bumps.

These are the hairs on the filament of a rose. Each filament has hundreds of these little hair lining the entire filament stem.
This sample was collected at 4:53 pm on 5/12/19 in Fleming Courtyard, I just found it on the ground. To collect the sample I pulled on the anther a little to reveal the filament which I then tugged off and prepared onto the slide.

This is the corner of a ripped piece of an orange peel. I found it interesting how when looking with just my eye I couldn’t see any color but my phone was able to pick up the orange hue.
This sample was gathered at 4:57 pm on 5/12/19 from one of the orange trees in Fleming courtyard. To collect the sample I used my nail to peel of a little bit of the peel which I then prepared onto my slide.

These are little strands of cotton from a cotton ball. We can see these little strand with our naked eye, but with the Foldscope a much clearer image of them.
This sample was gathered at 5:01 pm on 5/12/19 from underneath my sink in the cupboard. I gathered the sample but tearing of a little bit of the edge of the cotton ball and putting the little chunk on my slide and covering with the cover slip.

This is mascara. It is interesting to see how the mascara stays connected but branches out when out on a glass slide, it appears rather slippery in texture.
This sample was gathered at 5:03 pm on 5/12/19 from my mascara that I use. I gathered the sample by just using the wand, already covered in mascara, and wiping a little on the slide then smooshing it down a little with the coverslip.

#caltechbi1

These are my extra credit slides.

Sydney Richardson, section 6