Remote Access Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Labs

 

Blue Morpho Top Blue Morpho Bottom

Butterfly Investigation

The Blue Morpho butterfly has iridescent blue colored wings when viewed from the top, but the wings look brown when viewed from underneath.  You will use the SEM to investigate and hypothesize the cause of this difference in color.
Butterfly wing

Butterfly Scales Closer

Scales on a butterfly wing

at about 1000 micrometers.

Scales on a butterfly wing

at about 10 times smaller.

Powers of Ten

Learn about size and scale by viewing part of the wing of a Blue Morpho butterfly at Magnification 10X, 100X, 1000X, and 10000X.

A dandelion head at about 400 micrometers.

SEM Mystery

Solve the mystery of the missing doughnuts! Examine evidence from the "crime scene" using a real SEM. Hypothesize the origin of each piece of evidence to deduce who the culprit is.

 


Technical and educational staff services are possible through the generosity of the National Science Foundation through support via the NNIN.