Update with photos: I use scanning electron microscopes as part of my graduate work. Request a photo or AMA

Original thread here.

I got onto the SEM today and got a few pics. I looked at a ballpoint pen tip vs a felt tipped pen, lichen on a rock, a leaf of lavendar, and a beetle I found hiding in a flower. I also attempted to analyze a rusty razor blade but I couldn't get a decent picture, and the flower I picked totally fell apart during sample prep.

Here are some that I did get. First the ballpoint vs felt tipped. The ball point pen was a regular $1 red ballpoint. The felt tipped pen was a writing felt, like a fineliner, not a sharpie. I clipped the ends off both with wire cutters.

Ballpoint: 1 | 2 | 3

The third one of that series is the edge of the ball fitting into the tip.

Felt tipped: 1 - the whole thing | 2 - just the tip

Flower beetle: 1 - the head and shoulders | 2 - lower body | 3 - leg with some weird things on it

To me those little weird things on the leg look like other smaller insects or grubs or something. I have no idea what they are. If you know, please say something. I picked the flower in my back yard in Brisbane, Australia and that beetle was holed up in the folded up flower.

Lichen: 1 - widest zoom of lichen at 43x | 2 - closer at 300x | 3 - closer at 5000x | 4 - even closer at 20kx

image showing levels of zoom on the lichen

Lavender: 1 - how it looked when I picked it | 2 forest of tentacles | 3 again

Enjoy! I should have a chance to do more hobby SEM work, but probably not for a few weeks. I will keep in mind the other numerous suggestions from the previous thread that I didn't do this time around.