Donacarney Boys get a close up!
THE boys in Bunscoil Buachaillí Réalt na Mara had lots of fun finding out about what you can see through the lens of a powerful microscope.
Thanks to the generosity of the Hitachi company and company engineer, Tom Kearney, the boys had the use of the most powerful Electron Microscope on the market for their investigations.
The Hitachi TM4000plus is at the cutting edge of the micro world. The boys had gathered everyday items such pollen, salt, sand and human hair. Each item went under the microscope’s lens and the resulting picture was displayed on the microscope’s monitor.
Pollen became a spiky ellipse, salt resembled a rocky cliff face, while a petal from a flower looked, for all the world, like the puffed up sides of a bouncy castle.
The transformation of every day things under the microscope was intriguing for adults and children alike and led to many more questions about science and the world around us.
Keen fans of Discover Science projects and also of the annual Young Scientist exhibitions, several classes from the Donacarney boys’ school visited the school library where the microscope had been installed for two days.
The Hitachi TM4000plus Electron Microscope will be made available to other schools around the country in the coming year, with the aim of promoting the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in primary schools.