Electron Microscope Lab WebQuest
Miss Zitzmann's 7th Grade Flamingo Science Class
Ice cream under electron microscope (showing fat globules and ice crystals).
Introduction
Scanning electron microscopes (SEM's)- allow scientists to view specimens too small to be seen with a light microscope. SEMs use electrons to magnify objects up to two million times!
Our goals for today:
- To learn how an electron microscope works.
- To view slides of real cells and organisms viewed under the power of an electron microscope.
Procedure :
- Visit a web site that explains what an electron microscope is.
- After visiting the first web site, view images of various cells and organisms viewed under the power of an electron microscope.
Part One: How an Electron Microscope Works
- Go to web site: http://www.mos.org/sln/SEM/index.html
- Click on “How it works.”
- In the next screen, click on “Self Paced Tour.”
- Read each screen . When you are finished reading the screen you have up, click “next.”
- Answer the follow-up questions that go along
Part One: Follow-Up Questions
DIRECTIONS : Answer the following in complete sentences.
- What do scanning electron microscopes use to magnify their images?
- What is one benefit to using a scanning electron microscope as opposed to a light microscope?
- What do scientists coat the specimen they are looking at with so that the specimen becomes conductive?
Part Two: Images of Organisms
- Go to web site: http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/interact/vemwindow.html
- Click on “Specimen One” and drag it to the table of the electron microscope.
- Decide which type of cell you think the specimen matches up with. Use the clues provided to help you in your decision. Drag it over to the empty slot on the left side of the screen.
- If you are correct, record your answer in the follow-up question section below.
- Do this for each specimen.
Part Two: Follow-Up Questions
DIRECTIONS : Put the name of the specimen that matches up with each of the following specimen numbers on the lines provided.
An example has been done for you.
- _______________
- _______________
- _______________
- _______________
- _______________
- _______________
- _______________
- _ Insect Spiracle__
- _______________
What was one thing that was easy about today’s lab?
What was one thing that was hard about today’s lab?