Lotus leaf and water droplet: ultrahydrophobicity

Lotus leafes show up ultrahydrophobicity, that means that a water droplet has a contact angle > 160 degrees, and there is no wetting of the surface.
Lotus leaves have a micro-nano structure. The micro structure shows up as tiny balls with an diameter around 10 microns and an average distance of 20 microns. This structure is made visible with a rather low magnification objective (7.5x) here, but with the help of a very small water droplet (diameter 0.2 mm), which is used as an additional lens, the micro-structure becomes visible.

On top of this micro-structure is an even smaller nano structure of small wax particles, which can not be seen here.

This 100x image gives some more insight


Mitutoyo 7.5x NA 0.21, tube lense 165mm (Thorlabs)
Illumination: oblique and trans

Tags:   Lotus effect Lotus Water drop hydrophobic ultrahydrophobicity

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Green aphid (wing) (Aphidoidea sp.)

Illumination: coaxial (pure epi-illumination with white light (halogen lamp)


Mitutoyo 50x NA 0.55, tube lens ITL200 (Nikon)
Illumination: coaxial (pure epi-illumination with white light (halogen lamp)

The wings of aphids are rather thin (about 500nm), and also very rough (+-160nm). Thats why they show up with rather small regions of the same color (in epi-illumination at high magnification), leading to the impression of psychedelic art.


See the complete animal here

Another part of the wing

Tags:   aphid interference colours rainbow Mitutoyo extreme macro macro Psychedelic Art

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Common polypody, (Polypodium vulgare)

If they dry, the yellow arms bend back, increase tension, and throw the spores within a radius of several cm. This happens within fractions of a second. Really fast moving plants!

Mitutoyo 20x NA 0.42, tube lens: Raynox 125mm
Illumination: UV fluorescence

Tags:   Mitutoyo UV fluorescence Polypodium vulgare fern sporangium moving plants

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Citric acid crystals in polarized light

Mitutoyo 10x NA 0.28, tube lens: ITL200, Nikon, 200mm
Illumination: Crossed polarizers

Tags:   Crystals Citric acid polarized light extreme macro

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Polyxenus lagurus

This 2-3mm small guys are a real danger for possible predators.
It is covered with detachable bristles that have the ability to entangle ants and spiders that attack the animal. Contacting a hair is a sure death-sentence for any assailant.
Here is a magnification of the tail bristles in comparison to a (thin) human hair (left, blueish due to polarization effects).

Here is a UV-fluorescence-version of the animal

A full image of the same individuum is here.

A magnified version of the head comes here.

Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 50x NA 0.75, tube lens: ITL200 (Nikon) 200mm
Illumination: Polarization and oblique

Tags:   Polyxenus lagurus Bristly millipede extreme macro Mitutoyo

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