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Water drops bead on the leaf of a lotus plant.
Paint film from the underside of an ivy leaf with
stellate hairs
Paint impression of a human hair
How to make a paint film preparation.
The surfaces of practically all plants are more or less structured. The silky appear-
ance of the petal of a pansy, for example, comes from the fact that the petals have
lots of small protuberances on their surface which reflect the light differently than
a smooth surface would.
Unfortunately, surfaces cannot be observed directly with a microscope like they
can with a magnifying glass. Although sections of surfaces can be prepared, that is
practically impossible to do by hand when it comes to delicate objects. But there's
a little trick you can use to dive into the fascinating world of surface structures.
Impressive Impressions — The Nail Polish Trick
It's easy to make impressions of surfaces that you can have a closer look at us-
ing a microscope. You will need:
• a slide and a cover slip
• colorless nail polish
• adhesive tape
• a wide variety of materials, such as leaves, blossoms, or fruits
First, paint a small portion of the surface that you want to study with the
colorless nail polish. Now you'll need to let it dry. Depending on the air tem-
perature, this will take 5 – 10 minutes. Then stick a small strip of clear adhesive
tape onto the painted surface and carefully pull the strip off again. The dried
nail polish separates from the surface. Affix the adhesive tape with the impres-
sion on a slide and cover it with a cover slip. Now you can observe the impres-
sion under the microscope as you do other objects.
Try making impressions of other objects such as a piece of wood or a rock. You
should keep in mind, however, that the nail polish may be absorbed into your
object, depending on its surface characteristics. In that case, you may not be
able to remove the nail polish film, or the surface may be marked permanent-
ly. So it's best to steer clear of furniture or other important objects that may
not come clean later.
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