Matthew Ong, Kelly Mercado !

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Introduction:!
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Scanning Electron Microscope!

The Scanning Electron Microscope is used to capture images of samples in high magnifications. It
uses an electron gun to shoot out electrons and sensors to receive the sent back images. This tool
is very useful to scientists as it enables us to view the various microstructures of different
materials. !

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Sample Preparation: !
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The samples used were rice grain, bubble gum (Juicy Fruit), bread crumb and chalk. These

samples did not need any further drying. The only preparation done was cutting these samples into
smaller pieces to fit the tape used to attach these samples. Also, small samples were needed to
obtain an overview image of the samples. !

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Results and Discussion: !
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Rice Grain: !

Figure 1. Rice grain (x40)!

The image shown above shows that the surface of the grain is relatively smooth. The area

of the grain is about 5.32 square millimetre. We then focused on the crack on the lower right
portion of the grain.!

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Figure 2. Rice grain (x300)! !

Figure 3. Rice grain (x4000)!

Figure 2 shows the part we are focusing on. Figure 3 in which the magnification was at

x4000 shows the crack up close. Using the scale bar provided we can measure the width of the
crack. The width of the crack is about 4.44um. The material can be said to be brittle because the
crack propagation is observed. !

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Gum (Juicy Fruit):!

Figure 4. Gum (x40)!

The overview image of the gum shows that the sample consists of many holes and cracks.

We focused on areas that have several inconsistencies in physical appearance.!

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Figure 5. Gum (x300)! !

Figure 6. Gum (x3000)!

Figure 5 and 6 show the gum in higher magnification. No qualitative description can be

made because hole sizes are far too inconsistent to make a generalisation. !

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Bread Crumb: !

Figure 7. Bread crumb (x40)!

The overview image of bread crumb looks like smaller particles compacted together but has

separated themselves from the main body in some parts of the sample.!

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Figure 8. Bread crumb (x150)!!

Figure 9. Bread crumb (x3000)!

Compared to the gum sample, the bread crumb has more cracks than it has holes. We can

quantify crack density by counting majors cracks and minor branches in a given area. Per 250,000
micrometer squared, there are about 8 cracks present. !

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Chalk: !

Figure 10. Chalk (x30)!

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The sample looks like it has a rough surface. Also, we can infer that the sample is brittle

because of the solid crack seen in the middle. We focused on this crack and obtained the following
images. !

Seeing the sample closer, it can now be seen that the sample is made up of smaller

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Figure 11. Chalk (x1000)! !

Figure 12. Chalk (x3000)!

granules oriented differently and compacted together. These granules resemble a can of Piknik or
fries. Some parts are more compacted than others; this is seen more clearly in Figure 12. !

Figure 13. Chalk (x10000)!

The width of the largest granule shown in Figure 13 is approximately 1.56 micrometer. In a

100 micrometer square area, there are approximately 13 granules. These images come from the
crack seen in Figure 10. !

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Conclusions!
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We therefor conclude that Scanning Electron Microscope is a very useful tool when it

comes to capturing images in the micro-level. We did not encounter any difficulties during the

whole process. The sample preparation was very simple for all samples and we did not encounter
any sort of charging when we were capturing images. The bread crumb and the gum samples had
similar physical appearances, as it seemed that the two samples both had an abundance of cracks
and holes. However, after zooming in the samples, we found that bread crumbs had more cracks
than it did holes and that the gum was made up of mostly holes. The rice grain can be described
as a smooth and brittle sample. The chalk had the most interesting images as it was made up of
small granules clumped up together. These granules are shaped like long rectangles. The images
with higher magnifications are images of the crack seen in the overview image of the sample.