LGP'26 B3 Day 1
Jun 04, 2026 • 8:57 AM UTC
India
340x Magnification
Plants
Khushi Baid
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Before I begin with my observations, let me ask you a question: Have you ever sat through something that everyone else seemed excited about, but you just couldn't understand the hype around? That was me in the biology lab. Whenever we were taken there in school, my classmates could barely contain their excitement, but I, for one, found it kind of monotonous. We just kept staring at circles and dots under a delicate microscope, and I simply nodded my head, pretending to understand. However, my perspective towards the studying the microworlds changed after this workshop.
On our first day of the workshop “Exploring The Microcosm” at Ashoka university we had been given an opportunity to observe both the fern rhizome and the onion peel under a foldscope. The experience was absolutely amazing and each of us were mesmerized by the results we received and the photographs we took.
We started by understanding how to use the foldscope. When the foldscope was handed out to us I was fascinated about how something so simple made of paper could be so useful and show us a range of observations that also with different lenses. I was so used to the huge, complicated microscopes with fragile particles but this was a simpler, efficient version which provided equally good results.
We started by using a pre-stained slide of the fern rhizome and placed it carefully between the flaps in the foldscope. There were a bunch of things we had to be mindful about like our slide should face the lens and our sample should be so fine that light could pass through it. Once I adjusted the slide I finally peeked into the lens only to see the most phenomenal version of a fern rhizome. I wondered how a random plant could look so unique and vibrant and would have so many layers. Upon getting our observations all of us got excited and ran from corner of the classroom to the other to see each others’ samples.
I viewed this at three different magnifications. 50x where I saw the overall shape and outline of the rhizome and I also noticed that different tissue regions appeared as lighter and darker zones. At 140x the cells became visible, there were some air spaces between the cells and the vascular bundles appeared as distinct structures. The cortex was closely packed with cells and there were more details visible in the scales and surface structures (the image at the top right-140x) At 340x I could observe a kind of xylem and phloem and thick-walled supporting cells. It was a more magnified and enlarged view and I could see even the most minute details.
Then came the onion cells-which honestly were kind of pungent. For the onion we were expected to take a thin sample ourselves and that was absolute chaos. Each of us struggled while trying to cut a “perfect” sample and were fighting over the tape and tweezers. Regardless we all managed to produce good samples with the help of our teacher and teaching assistants. We also viewed the onion under the same three magnifications.
At 50x I saw a large group of cells that were arranged in neat rows. There were rectangular/brick like cells with barely any gap between. (image on the bottom right- 50x) At 140x I could see the individual rectangular cells, the cell walls become sharper and the nucleus is visible to some extent (diagram at the bottom left-150x) At 340x I could see a large vacuole which occupies most of each cell and it pushes the cytoplasm towards the edges. The nucleus appeared as a rounded structure near the periphery.
What really surprised me at the end of the first day was how easily I could make observations with the foldscope and how I learnt so much and enjoyed every single minute of it. I learnt that to get a good images one must be careful of the minute things and if we observe them well we can get to know so much about the cell structure of a plant.
On our first day of the workshop “Exploring The Microcosm” at Ashoka university we had been given an opportunity to observe both the fern rhizome and the onion peel under a foldscope. The experience was absolutely amazing and each of us were mesmerized by the results we received and the photographs we took.
We started by understanding how to use the foldscope. When the foldscope was handed out to us I was fascinated about how something so simple made of paper could be so useful and show us a range of observations that also with different lenses. I was so used to the huge, complicated microscopes with fragile particles but this was a simpler, efficient version which provided equally good results.
We started by using a pre-stained slide of the fern rhizome and placed it carefully between the flaps in the foldscope. There were a bunch of things we had to be mindful about like our slide should face the lens and our sample should be so fine that light could pass through it. Once I adjusted the slide I finally peeked into the lens only to see the most phenomenal version of a fern rhizome. I wondered how a random plant could look so unique and vibrant and would have so many layers. Upon getting our observations all of us got excited and ran from corner of the classroom to the other to see each others’ samples.
I viewed this at three different magnifications. 50x where I saw the overall shape and outline of the rhizome and I also noticed that different tissue regions appeared as lighter and darker zones. At 140x the cells became visible, there were some air spaces between the cells and the vascular bundles appeared as distinct structures. The cortex was closely packed with cells and there were more details visible in the scales and surface structures (the image at the top right-140x) At 340x I could observe a kind of xylem and phloem and thick-walled supporting cells. It was a more magnified and enlarged view and I could see even the most minute details.
Then came the onion cells-which honestly were kind of pungent. For the onion we were expected to take a thin sample ourselves and that was absolute chaos. Each of us struggled while trying to cut a “perfect” sample and were fighting over the tape and tweezers. Regardless we all managed to produce good samples with the help of our teacher and teaching assistants. We also viewed the onion under the same three magnifications.
At 50x I saw a large group of cells that were arranged in neat rows. There were rectangular/brick like cells with barely any gap between. (image on the bottom right- 50x) At 140x I could see the individual rectangular cells, the cell walls become sharper and the nucleus is visible to some extent (diagram at the bottom left-150x) At 340x I could see a large vacuole which occupies most of each cell and it pushes the cytoplasm towards the edges. The nucleus appeared as a rounded structure near the periphery.
What really surprised me at the end of the first day was how easily I could make observations with the foldscope and how I learnt so much and enjoyed every single minute of it. I learnt that to get a good images one must be careful of the minute things and if we observe them well we can get to know so much about the cell structure of a plant.
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