manual

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PROJECT #2: Animal Fur
You will need: microscope
2 or more clean, blank slides
samples of different types of fur and hair
An animal’s fur is similiar to the hair on your head. Like your hair, it protects
the skin underneath from cold, heat, and sunburn. Animals have different
kinds of fur. Some animals have fine, smooth fur. Others have stiff, bristly
hair. Some fur is short, and some fur is long. Long-haired animals can stay
warm even when it is very cold. Their fur traps and holds a layer of warm air
next to their skin. This is called insulation.
Study samples of fur from cats, dogs, and even your pet hamster. Check
paintbrushes you may have around the house. Some small paintbrushes have
hairs from squirrels. Other brushes may have bristles from pigs.
Put several strands of animal hair or fur in between a slide sandwich like you
did with the cloth fibers and look at them under your microscope. If you look
closely at 450X or 900X magnification, you might see small rough lines going
around each hair. These are growth lines. If there is a large space between
these lines, the hair is fast-growing. A lot of small spaces between lines
indicate a slow-growing hair.
Pull out a single hair from your head. (Ouch!) Does it look like any of the
animal hairs?
Notes:
Sample
#
Where is it
from?
Is the hair
smooth?
Would it keep
the animal
warm?
Can you see
growth rings?
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
PROJECT #3: Leaves
You will need: microscope
2 or more clean, blank slides
different types of leaves
Plants breathe through their leaves! Most leaves have small holes in their
underneath side called stomata. Plants breathe in carbon dioxide from the
air and release oxygen. People and animals do the opposite. They breathe
in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. In this way people and animals
help one another. The scientific name for a relationship like this is a
symbiotic relationship.
Collect leaves from different tree and plant types. The needles of pine, fir and
spruce trees are also leaves, but they look a little different.
If you gather your leaves in the spring and summer, they will be mainly green.
In the fall and winter they may be red or brown or orange—all except the
small fir, pine and spruce needles. They stay green all year round. The trees
from which these leaves come are called evergreens.
Look closely at your leaf samples at 300X magnification. Look for patterns of
lines running through the leaf. These are the veins of the leaf, and they carry
nutrients, or energy food, back and forth between the leaf and the main plant.
A plant’s leaves are like tiny food factories. Chlorophyll, a green chemical in
leaves, traps energy from sunlight. Plants use energy, water, and carbon
dioxide to make food in a process called photosynthesis.
Notes:
Sample
#
What plant is
it from?
What color
is it?
Can you see
the veins?
Can you see
the stomata?
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6