I have been working hard in my garden to get raised beds built in time for the growing season and as part of my Foldscope In The Classroom: In The Garden series. The beds require cutting and carrying a lot of wood planks which, unfortunately, increases my risk for splinters. Just the other day I got one in my finger. Of course I had to take a closer look at the splinter under my Foldscope 2.0! Read on to see what I saw!

Figure 1. Picture of  wood planks from the garden

(Photo Credit: Holly A. Stuart)

Tiny, But Troublesome

As you can see in the image below, the splinter was extremely small. I got a pair of tweezers and successfully pulled out the little piece of wood. I couldn’t believe that something so tiny could cause so much trouble!

Figure 2. Picture of the splinter on a glass slide

(Photo Credit: Holly A. Stuart)

Whole View

When I look at objects under my Foldscope, I like to start with the lowest magnification necessary to see as much as possible of the whole sample. The 50X lens let me see the entire splinter. The thing that surprised me with this image is how rectangular the splinter appeared. I expected to see something more needle-like.

Figure 3. Picture of the splinter viewed under a Foldscope 2.0 at 50X magnification

(Photo Credit: Holly A. Stuart)

Three Dimensional Objects

Interesting things start to happen when you increase the magnification on the Foldscope. At 140X, the three dimensional quality of the splinter can be seen. The combination of the depth of the splinter and the focal distance of the Foldscope means I can either focus on the top layer of the splinter (left) or the bottom layer of the splinter (right), but not both at the same time. This gives you an appreciation of the dimensionality that is present at these tiny scales - even if things look flat, they really aren't!

Figure 4. Picture of the splinter viewed under a Foldscope 2.0 at 140X magnification

Left: focused on the top; Right: focused on the bottom

(Photo Credit: Holly A. Stuart)

Lighting

When I went up to 340X magnification I got a really good look at the edges of the splinter. Those sharp points were more in line with what I expected to see in the Foldscope. I was caught off guard by the splinter’s red color. While my finger didn’t bleed much when I pulled the splinter out, the wood had clearly absorbed some of my blood! And this is where you can see that the type of lighting makes a big difference in how the sample appears under the Foldscope! This is why I always encourage Foldscopers to play with different  types of lighting and lighting techniques. LED, lightbox, ambient sunlight, brightfield, darkfield, and reflective lighting can make one sample look completely different in your Foldscope!

Figure 5. Picture of the splinter viewed under a Foldscope 2.0 at 340X magnification plus 5X zoom on my phone using darkfield (left) and brightfield (right)

(Photo Credit: Holly A. Stuart)

Have you looked at splinters under a Foldscope 2.0? Use your Foldscope to turn an injury into a discovery and find the beauty that is waiting for you. Share your microscopic images and thoughts on the Microcosmos. Be sure to tag us on social media when you post the results of your explorations, creations, and discoveries! We love to see how Foldscopers around the world are using their Foldscopes in new and innovative ways!

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