What's the point of buying a new microscope if you can't have some fun? Given the recent poor weather and the fact that I've just bought a microscope with a polarising filter, I recrystallized some household stuff and this are the first results. I didn't buy a polarising microscope to look at inorganic substances, but to utilize birefringent properties of tissues to enhance visualization - but more of that later.
Sea salt
Sodium bicarbonate
Sucrose (sugar)
Following a suggestion online, I also added a
retarder (wave plate) to the polarizer (the lid of a polypropylene specimen box - CD jewel cases are good). R
ecrystalized sea salt (mostly NaCl), polarised image (left), plus retarder (right).
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