/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.10860437]

I want to look at little things under a microscope
where do I start?

[Anonymous No.10860440]

>>10860437
Get a microscope.

[Anonymous No.10860442]

>>10860437
Step 1. Acquire eyes
Step 2. Acquire microscope
Step 3. Acquire little things

[Anonymous No.10860445]

>>10860437
Amazon.com

[Anonymous No.10860461]

microbead lens

[Anonymous No.10860467]

>>10860442
1. what kind of microscope?
2. where do I get little things? will pond water work?
3. how will I know what Im looking at? is there a book with pictures that I can look up the little things to learn their names?

[Anonymous No.10860474]

>>10860437
Neutrinos are the littlest particles. Start with them and work up.

[Anonymous No.10860477]

>>10860474
but I want to start with the coolest ones

[Anonymous No.10860488]

>>10860437
unzip

[Anonymous No.10860507]

>>10860467
>1. what kind of microscope?
A tabletop compound microscope. You can get a cheap old one with mirror lighting or a modern electrical one with its own lightsource.
>2. where do I get little things? will pond water work?
Literally everywhere. Everywhere where you can be without dying is riddled with microbiota. You're also covered, lined and filled with microorganisms.
Some interesting things to see:
>a drop of blood
>pond water
>fungal spores
>insect eggs

>3. how will I know what Im looking at? is there a book with pictures that I can look up the little things to learn their names?
You need to identify them using classic biology methods like observing their morphology, how they cluster, what do they eat, do they breathe air and most importantly, learn to do Gram staining, the dyes aren't expensive I believe.

[Anonymous No.10860513]

>>10860477
also neutrinos

[Anonymous No.10860517]

>>10860507
explain morphology
explain clustering
explain what little thing food is
explain how little things breathe
explain gram staining that sounds fun
but I still want a picture book

[Anonymous No.10860523]

>>10860513
was pic related a neutrino?

[Anonymous No.10860582]

>>10860517
>explain morphology
Literally the shape. Are they spherical (coccus)? Are they cylindrical (bacillus/coliform)?

>explain clustering
In a colony, do they just dogpile onto a random mass? Or do they form structures like fine lines or grapevine-like structures?

>explain what little thing food is
What substratum are you feeding your microorganisms for them to grow?

>explain how little things breathe
Every living being breathes, though not necessarily oxygen. Microorganisms can be classified based on their interaction with oxygen in air: aerobic (needs O2), anaerobic (poisoned by O2), facultative anaerobic (doesn't need O2 but grows better when its available) and microaerophiles (needs O2 in concentrations smaller than 20% since this is toxic to them).
Organisms breathe by processing glucose in the Krebs cycle (turning NAD+ and ADP into NADH and ATP) and using O2 as an electron acceptor at the end of the oxidative phosphorilation chain. Prokaryotes do this through their cell membrane while Eukaryotes use their mitochondria, just like you.

>explain gram staining that sounds fun
Its a couple of dyes that can tell you whether a bacterium has one cell wall or two. There are two major groups regarding cell wall.

[Anonymous No.10860590]

>>10860582
oh I dont care about bacteria I like the animals

[Anonymous No.10860592]

>>10860590
I mean I like the ones that move around and eat things

[Anonymous No.10860596]

Amscope, if your a yankee. Microscopenet of your a leaf. These are good shops to buy a scope. Buy a DIN 160 for more customizability.

[Anonymous No.10860599]

Hay infusions where non-chlorinated water or pond water samples have hay in them to grow a myriad of organisms. Eventually you'll get animals and a plethora of microscopic plants.

[Anonymous No.10860600]

>>10860596
I aint no fuckin yankee my great great grandpappy died fighting the kansan menace
whats a good missouri microscope?

[Anonymous No.10860601]

>>10860599
I didnt know little things ate hay I have plenty of hay for the cows
how much hay do they eat? I got square bales and round bales

[Anonymous No.10860602]

>>10860467
Use your tap water

[Anonymous No.10860604]

>>10860602
theres a la

[Anonymous No.10860610]

>>10860604
>>10860602
theres a lake nearby its got lots of green shit in it would that be good?

[Anonymous No.10860627]

>>10860590
>>10860592
Every being moves around and eats things, but fine. You want to observe protozoa exclusively.

[Anonymous No.10860634]

>>10860610
Yes, pond water is fascinating. Get cover slips for microscope slides, pipettes, view dead insects, etc...
Collect sea urchins, spawn gametes, and observe embryonic development too

[Anonymous No.10860653]

>>10860437
Acquire a slice of your muscle and count the satellite cell density after a work out. You'll know whether you can build muscle or not and it will save you a lot of time if you find out you can't

[Anonymous No.10860670]

>>10860627
yes
I am protozoatist

[Anonymous No.10860683]

>>10860634
where do I get science stuff to be protozoatist?

[Anonymous No.10860685]

>>10860442
You forgot "?????" and "PROFIT!"

[Anonymous No.10860695]

>>10860683
Why don't you talk properly?

[Anonymous No.10860721]

>>10860523
Yes, trillions of them

[Anonymous No.10860729]

>>10860600
The peephole in your neighbor milfs fence

[Anonymous No.10860747]

OP, don't settle for shit-tier scopes, get one of these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruuxn2u3yao

[Anonymous No.10860757]

>>10860582
I already have a microscope, but I suck at staining. What are some easy stains I could do to get started?
On another note, how would I know what gas the little fucks breathe? Would I just need to suffocate them and see if they enjoy it or not?

[Anonymous No.10860758]

>>10860747
my budget is $600 dollars for science stuff
I have guns I need to buy

[Anonymous No.10860763]

>>10860695
sorry
whomst do I get science stuff to be a protozoatist?

[Anonymous No.10860768]

>>10860757
get your own thread I dont need the smart people dividing their attention

[Anonymous No.10860771]

>>10860437
Ah a fellow microscopist. I too enjoy the pleasures of exploring the invisible world around us. From all the hobbies I've tried this has been among the most captivating ones.

Tell me what would you like to explore and I can help you choose a microscope and accessory equipment.

Nice rotifer btw.

[Anonymous No.10860773]

>>10860758
He tipped his hand there, boys.

[Anonymous No.10860779]

>>10860773
why is 600 not nearly enough?
I am new to protozoasticianing

[Anonymous No.10860793]

>>10860771
I want to look at protolittlezoa things
they are pretty
I want to watch them eat other little things
what kind of camera and maglite is on your microscope?
is that for taking pictures
thats cool I want a camera and maglite on a microscope to take pictures of little things
I will frame them and put them on my wall

[Anonymous No.10860817]

>>10860793
Thats what I do, watch amoeba and paramecia devour bacteria, there are protozoans with flagella, there are photosynthetic ones, there are even ones with a glass shell shaped like a fractal.

I think you can get a decent oldschool built-like-a-tank German microscope with phase contrast for under 600 USD on ebay.

And yes thats a camera, its an old Canon. What is a maglite though?

[Anonymous No.10860849]

>>10860817
will it show the pretty colors?
what else do I need other than the microscope?

[Anonymous No.10860868]

>>10860849
lol its just a phototube mang

And yes you can see colors crazier than you can imagine. For example pic related are crystals under the microscope with the addition of polarized light.

Other than the microscope you only need slides and coverslips to begin with.

[Anonymous No.10860875]

>>10860868
thats really pretty
what are slides and coverslips?
wont I need to grow cultures and have a fridge to keep the little things alive? I have plenty of hay but Im sure theres more to it than just feeding them.
by the way no one told me how much hay to feed them.

[Anonymous No.10860897]

>>10860875
little pieces of rectangle glass that you sanwich the microbes between.

You need 10 grams of hay per 100ml of water.

[Anonymous No.10860903]

>>10860897
how many grams are in a square bale?

[Anonymous No.10860908]

>>10860903
10,000?

[Anonymous No.10860910]

>>10860903
Really. Good. You.

[Anonymous No.10860918]

>>10860908
great I have more than enough

[Anonymous No.10860932]

>>10860757
>I already have a microscope, but I suck at staining. What are some easy stains I could do to get started?
Do optical staining by converting phase differences in amplitude changes (i.e. dark and bright). I mounted a double beam interferometer device on my scope and now I can convert a phase gradient into an amplitude differential so I can see living stuff without the need to stain them.

[Anonymous No.10860942]

>>10860932
but I like playing with paint

[Anonymous No.10860964]

>>10860932
That doesn't sound like a totally bad idea, but... it seems like a pain in the ass to mount in the microscope. Can you show me an example on how to put it on the microscope?
I do like the overall idea though, never thought about doing something like that and it does seems better than having a bunch of stains.

[Anonymous No.10861050]

>>10860964
Actually, never mind, I guess I figured it out
Still annoying to assemble but so is life I guess

[Anonymous No.10861232]

>>10860964
Its not complicated if you have the right components. First you add a linear polarizer. Then a special prism that splits the incoming polarized waves into a sheared light front. As it passes through a specimen one of the split wave might be slightly retarded in phase due to interacting with the optically thick edge of the thing your looking at while the other passes normally through the background. Then the two rays recombine by a second analogous prism and finally a second polarizer shifts the electric vectors of the two beams in the same vibrational plane where they can interfere with each other and produce an amplitude differential.

[Anonymous No.10861244]

>>10860779
$1200 would be starting level. No joke. I really want a good scope for this type of thing too. I'm stuck with DIY extension tubes on a DSLR for now.

[Anonymous No.10861339]

>>10861232
Thanks!
This is really interesting, shame the prism seems kinda hard to get. I'll try looking around though, it's very likely the biology department at my university has these. Obviously they won't share it, but I can find where they bought it and hopefully it isn't very expensive. Do they happen to have some commercial name I could look for?
Not gonna lie though, that's still pretty bulky to mount.

[Anonymous No.10861346]

>>10860437
With your cock.

[Anonymous No.10861355]

>>10861244
but amazon said their best microscope was like 200 bucks
https://www.amazon.com/OMAX-40X-2000X-Binocular-Microscope-Mechanical/dp/B005TJ5CEG/ref=sxin_4_osp20-275c3237_cov?ascsubtag=275c3237-cd76-4b96-84aa-c60525fd210f&creativeASIN=B005TJ5CEG&cv_ct_id=amzn1.osp.275c3237-cd76-4b96-84aa-c60525fd210f&cv_ct_pg=search&cv_ct_wn=osp-search&keywords=microscope&linkCode=oas&pd_rd_i=B005TJ5CEG&pd_rd_r=0f72f75a-d74f-4656-8675-5550c9854a3d&pd_rd_w=Yyx6h&pd_rd_wg=NkfPq&pf_rd_p=43ba9e17-96f5-4491-b054-e546013f7dc4&pf_rd_r=10DJCYSE39CW38JRJXSD&qid=1564863619&s=gateway&tag=bestcont06-20

[Anonymous No.10861374]

>>10861355
Holy shirt what kind of information is hidden in that URL

[Anonymous No.10861378]

>>10861339
Look for nomarski prism (or DIC prism). They are built with nanometer range tolerances and are not cheap. Check on ebay, just make sure you buy the correct set of prisms for your microscope.

[Anonymous No.10861379]

>>10861374
Im not sure I dont own a microscope try looking at it with yours

[Anonymous No.10861395]

>>10860437

I got my 7 year old a microscope that hooks up to our TV and he loves it.

Seeing how filthy his toys are under high magnification might make him OCD as shit, though.

[Anonymous No.10861401]

>>10861379
>>10861355
>>10861374
You can chop off those long urls after that code after the /dp/ part:

https://www.amazon.com/OMAX-40X-2000X-Binocular-Microscope-Mechanical/dp/B005TJ5CEG/

Also, look into Zeis for good microscopes. The $1200 in >>10861244 would be an old refurb. Expect to pay $12000 starting for lightly used ones and $35k starting with new ones.

[Anonymous No.10861403]

>>10861401
zeis makes gun scopes though

[Anonymous No.10861409]

Here is a very cool Zeiss microscope

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zeiss-Universal-DIC-Phase-Microscope-5-Planapo-Objectives-Restored-Mint/283549998002?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908131621%26meid%3Dd943f5663cda487db84df31b080a2718%26pid%3D100678%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D11%26sd%3D323872825684%26itm%3D283549998002%26pg%3D2481888&_trksid=p2481888.c100678.m3607&_trkparms=pageci%3A8ba46c17-b62e-11e9-a6eb-74dbd18002e9%7Cparentrq%3A5933d12a16c0a4b7b6e91540ffe37829%7Ciid%3A1

The guy selling it has a youtube channel where you can check the quality and its dope as fuck. I'd personally get this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZPLHASlbdM&

[Anonymous No.10861422]

>>10861403
They make lenses mainly. With that you get everything that has lenses in it. Including scopes, micro...scopes, binoculars, camera lenses, etc. They are basically the best of the best in IQ.

[Anonymous No.10861426]

>>10861422
well I use my scope all the time I aint never seen any little things with it though

[Anonymous No.10861439]

>>10861426

[Anonymous No.10861442]

>>10861439
so whats the type of microscope that lets me see the protozoas

[Anonymous No.10861446]

>>10861442
A 40x-2000x will work. The range will be 400x to 2000x depending on how much you want to magnify them.

[Anonymous No.10861447]

>>10861442
Thats the microscope you want

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZPLHASlbdM&

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zeiss-Universal-DIC-Phase-Microscope-5-Planapo-Objectives-Restored-Mint/283549998002?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908131621%26meid%3Dd943f5663cda487db84df31b080a2718%26pid%3D100678%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D11%26sd%3D323872825684%26itm%3D283549998002%26pg%3D2481888&_trksid=p2481888.c100678.m3607&_trkparms=pageci%3A8ba46c17-b62e-11e9-a6eb-74dbd18002e9%7Cparentrq%3A5933d12a16c0a4b7b6e91540ffe37829%7Ciid%3A1

[Anonymous No.10861455]

>>10861447
dont get me wrong
I want that microscope
its a dope fuckin microscope
I'd full strength kick a niglet in the chest for that microscope
but my budget is 600 dollardydoos
is this a good microscope?
https://www.amazon.com/AmScope-T380C-8M-Professional-Magnification-Illumination/dp/B00GGY0G8U/ref=sr_1_3?fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1564865790&refinements=p_72%3A1248879011%2Cp_36%3A30000-65000&rnid=386442011&s=electronics&sr=1-3

[Anonymous No.10861467]

>>10860437
>I want to look at little things under a microscope
>where do I start?
What have you tried?

[Anonymous No.10861474]

>>10861467
I have the bag of pond water

[Anonymous No.10861498]

I don't know about the amscope but here is a decent looking one in the 600 USD price range

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Carl-Zeiss-microscope-Standard-binocular-5-Plan-objectives-10x-oculars-LED/183839208456?hash=item2acdabb408:g:QPsAAOSwXRJc-ltZ

[Anonymous No.10861503]

>>10861498
oh shit nigger thats cool
and it can see the protozoas?

[Anonymous No.10861558]

>>10861503
yes, its a solid scope

[Anonymous No.10861568]

>>10860695
He's a scientist,not a linguist.
Stop being autismic

[Anonymous No.10861833]

>>10860601
It's a little more complicated. The hay absorbs nitrates, bacteria uses them to break down the hay. Other things eat the bacteria etc.

Hay is a kind of booster as it increases the surface area available to feed from compared to the pond floor as the only surface area.

You can overdo it, starving the water of nutrients by adding too much hay. This will slow development of microbiota significantly.

[Anonymous No.10861867]

>>10860779
$600 is fine. Get a used scope on ebay. Any Zeiss, Leica, Wild, Olympus, Nikon, or Bausch & Lomb compound microscope made in the last 40 years will be excellent. Amscope is mediocre chicom crap and only a good option if you insist on buying new and can't afford a German or Japanese scope. For hobby use, there's no reason to not buy used.

[Anonymous No.10861995]

>>10860442
2pbp

[Anonymous No.10862819]

>>10860467
>2. where do I get little things? will pond water work?
A compost heap is so rich in "little things" you will fear getting close to one afterwards.

[Anonymous No.10864649]

>>10860437
>>10860440

[Anonymous No.10866388]

>>10860437
Get bigger eyes

[Anonymous No.10866408]

>>10860773
Now thats an image I haven't seen posted in a long time.

[Anonymous No.10866414]

>>10862819
This is why I am never getting in the ocean again, Only pools chlorinated enough to cause mild chemical burns.

[Anonymous No.10866419]

>>10860932
The staining I mentioned previously (Gram) was not for visibility, its a test to determine whether a certain bacteria has a double cell wall or not.