Close up Pictures of Stir Bars (with a Wide Angle Lens!)

A while ago, we had an offer from ASPEX, a microanalysis company, to provide a free SEM scan of an object of our choosing (that post being a follow up to our M&M mystery post).  The stir bar won and was sent away, never to return.

The results are in, and they are as cool as expected.  Analyst Ben Abraham captured several images of our very, very old stir bar, with corresponding chemical composition analysis.  The stir bar contains several elements, some expected, some not.  At various sampling points around the stir bar, carbon, oxygen, aluminum, silicon, iron, sodium, magnesium, sulfur, chlorine, calcium, zinc, fluorine, and chromium (!)  were identified.  Clearly, after several good years of wear and tear, the surface of the stir bar becomes irregular and several impurities remain on the stir bar.

As a follow up, it would be interesting to see what a brand new stir bar looks like.  Also, it would be interesting to see what two old stir bars look like after a lifetime of cleaning by only soap and water, versus one cleaned regularly with aqua regia or piranha mix or some such cleaning solution.  I don’t know how this analyzed stir bar was cleaned.  Most likely soap and water.

Make sure you click over to the ASPEX site to see the rest of the images and results.  You can also check out the rest of the site, including their desktop SEM.

PS, if you don’t get the joke in the title, watch this.

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Poll (Updated and Bumped)

In response to the post on the M&M caper, a representative from a company named ASPEX, a provider of “microanalysis solutions for a wide range of production environments” including SEM and EDX analysis, contacted us and offered a free SEM scan of any object of our choosing using their benchtop SEM (updated to massage wording).  Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity.

I immediately contacted the Raleigh News and Observer to see if the subject of the M&M article wanted to provide some of the tooth-like sugar lump for SEM analysis.  How cool would that have been?  I received two responses from the N&O.  a) the state used all of the sample in figuring out the composition of the sugar lump (really?  The WHOLE thing to find out it was sugar?), and b) my use of the N&O’s image was in violation of copyright, and I needed to remove the image.  oops.

So, since we can’t get our hands on that, let’s have a vote to see what we should send to ASPEX for analysis!  Choose from a few foodstuffs as well as a few labstuffs, or tell us what you want to see up close and personal.  Voting will be open until Thursday so cast your vote NOW!

ASPEX also wants readers to know that you, too, can send in any sample of your choosing for a complimentary SEM scan!  Just head over to their website and fill out the form.  If the object you vote for doesn’t win, send it yourself!  Make sure you let us know, so we can link to the results and have a regular picture swap.

Happy scanning.

RESULTS!

Well, thanks to everyone who voted. The teflon stir bar won a decisive plurality, getting 40.4% of the vote. An M&M made a strong late game run, and finished 2nd with 23.4%. Rounding out the top 5 were Peanut (17%), Rubber septum (10.6%) and Other (8.5%).

I’ll be sending ASPEX a nice, scuffed up, old teflon stir bar soon. Let’s see what happens to one of these things after years of hard work.

Don’t forget, if you want to send in something of your own for a free SEM scan, just head to their website for the form to fill out.

Here is a picture of  a ‘new’ stir bar and the stir bar we’re sending for SEM to see what it looks like really really close up.

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Adding colors to SEM images

If I wanted to add colors to SEM pictures how would I do it? Let’s also add the stipulation that I don’t have access to PhotoShop or anything that would cost money. Illegal downloading isn’t an option. This has been on my mind for quite some time, but yesterday I sat down after dinner and developed my solution. This is my logic through the process.

1. I need a way to analyze the RGB of every pixel in an image.
2. I need to develop a simple algorithm to manipulate the RGB for every pixel.
3. Apply the algorithm and generate the colored picture.

RGB is the value for Red, Green, and Blue coded for each pixel. They run from 0 to 255. So, I wrote a script that will analyze this pixel information using php. My canvas was Yow et al.’s recent image of colloidosomes, shown below.

A gray scale picture will have the same value for RGB. The simplest manipulations will be to hold either R, G, or B to zero and let the others retain their original value. This yields teal for R=0, violet for G=0, and yellow for B=0.

To generate blue (R=0, G=0), green (R=0, B=0), and red (G=0, B=0) you’ll need to set two values to zero.

Primary colors are nice, but if you want to have softer gentler colors you’ll need to apply an algorithm to your RGBs. For a light blue, I use the following R=(0.2 * B), G=(0.6 * B), B=B.

An orange I like is R=R, G= (0.5 * R), B=0.

If someone knows a simpler way of SEM color manipulation please share. Also, if someone would like me to make a script where you can upload your SEM image and apply a single color filter let me know.

Mitch

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