1. The SEM is a big machine that takes an image of pollen. First, you have to make a stub for the microscope. You draw three marks in your stub to indicate three areas and put each kind of pollen in a different section of the stub. The plant we got the most pollen out of was the christmas cactus (schlumbergera) and we put that in the section between one and two. We put the sunflower (helianthus annuus) between sections two and three and did not get very much pollen from it. We also had trouble getting pollen from the chrysanthemum (dendranthema grandiflorum) and put that pollen between section three and one. You only put a very thin layer of pollen on the stub. After each pollen type is put on the stub, you have to blow air on it to make sure the particles to do not come off inside the machine.
2. The second microscope we used was the Leica microscope. For this one, you put the flower and the pollen underneath the microscope. The microscope gives you a 3D image of the pollen up close. This helps you visualize what the plant will actually look like. The other microscopes we used gave us a flat image while the Leica microscope is an actual image. We took pictures of the plants at 35x with this microscope.
3. One microscope we used was the light microscope with the camera. To make a slide for this
microscope, you have to put a drop of water on the pollen and over it with a cover slip. The camera attaches to the microscope and allows you to see the images on the screen and save them. We took the pictures at 400x. We had some trouble finding the pollen while using this microscope.
4. In the SEM, we were looking for pollen to see which two flowers had the most similar pollen shape. We used the computer to focus on the each pollen sample and zoomed in on the pollen particles. We found a good image of pollen from the christmas cactus but struggled to find pollen for the chrysanthemum and sunflower because both flowers didn't have much pollen to work with.
Source: http://www.winex-instrument.com/sem3900m.php
2. The second microscope we used was the Leica microscope. For this one, you put the flower and the pollen underneath the microscope. The microscope gives you a 3D image of the pollen up close. This helps you visualize what the plant will actually look like. The other microscopes we used gave us a flat image while the Leica microscope is an actual image. We took pictures of the plants at 35x with this microscope.
3. One microscope we used was the light microscope with the camera. To make a slide for this
microscope, you have to put a drop of water on the pollen and over it with a cover slip. The camera attaches to the microscope and allows you to see the images on the screen and save them. We took the pictures at 400x. We had some trouble finding the pollen while using this microscope.
