Wednesday, August 21, 2013

August Science Newsletter

We at Capital Microscope hope you have had a wonderful start of the new school year. For the past 24 years Capital Microscope has been here to help you by providing the best in science equipment to make science an exciting activity for your students. We also can save you time and money in finding the perfect science materials.

The easiest way to find the best products at the best price is to go to our website at Capital Microscope. We are also available to answer your questions and recommend products that will fit your particular needs for your students. Contact us to see what I can do to make science come alive.

We are looking forward to presenting you our "Science Newsletter" this year. We will continue to bring you information you can share with your students regardless of the discipline you teach. Below you will find interesting facts to share with your students. Each month brings science news for you and your students.

Now that you are starting labs you may have found that the microscopes in your lab need some attention to serve your students better. Contact us about servicing your microscopes. We can keep your microscopes operating like new and save you time and money.

August Featured Products

Swift M3-F STEM Approved Microscope

The unique design of this microscope series allows you to introduce many STEM concepts to your students. More than just for micro, macro or forensic use, this series can be used for histology, biology, pathology, dental studies, quality control, comparison studies and many more applications.

A truly unique concept in microscopy! The M3-F forensic microscope offers professional features at a highly competitive price point. Use the M3-F's revolutionary technology to compare images in both micro and macro environments. The M3's dedicated macro lens, with a large working distance, allows you to view not only bullets but also larger more bulky, "evidence" items. Swift's powerful optical system allows for images to be seen either 100% from the left microscope, 100% from the right, side-by-side, or overlapping. The M3-F is the first and only comparison microscope at this price level that can achieve overlapping of images. With the optional C-mount adapter, you can easily attach any C-mount ready imaging device. Motic Trace, a forensic comparison software program, is also available and sold as an additional application.

Click here: "Forensic Microscope" to see a full description of this powerful microscope.

List Price: $1,950.00 
Your Price: $1,657.50

Human Anatomy Model
This plastic sexless human torso shows the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, nervous and urinary system. The lungs, heart, liver, stomach and intestines are easily removable for further examination. Comes mounted on a plastic base. This compact and durable model is ideal for biological science classes.

Click here for a full description.

List Price: $109.00 
Your Price: $79.95

August Science "Tidbits"

General Science History
In 1793, the first definition was made for the metre: one ten-millionth of the northern quadrant of the Paris meridian (5,132,430 toises of Paris, from the north pole to the equator). The definition was tweaked based on a second measure made along the Dunkirk-Barcelona axis (5,130,740 toises of Paris) and made legal by the French National Assembly on 7 Apr 1795. The toise was six French feet, 76.74 English inches, a pre-metric measure, from Latin tendere, to stretch (implying the distance between fingertips of a  man's arms stretched horizontally sideways, similar to the English fathom). In the Middle Ages, "the toise of Paris" was an iron bar with two tabs, fixed in a wall at the foot of the staircase of the Grand Châtelet in Paris.

Biology History
In 1865, Dr. Joseph Lister became the first surgeon perform an antiseptic operation by liberal use of carbolic acid (phenol) as a disinfectant. He had studied  Louis Pasteur's germ theory of disease, that infections are caused by bacteria. Lister knew carbolic acid had been effective in municipal use for treating sewage, and decided to try using it to kill germs that would otherwise infect wounds. He poured it on bandages, ligatures, instruments and directly on the wound and hands. His first patient to benefit from this procedure was James Greenlees, age 12, whose broken leg was treated after being run over by a cart. The dressing was soaked with carbolic acid and linseed oil. The wound healed without infection. Lister continued his protocol of hygiene, and reduced the surgical death rate from 45% to 15%.

Earth Science History
In 1990, the space probe Magellan arrived at its planned polar orbit around Venus. As the planet rotated slowly beneath it,Magellan circled once every 3-hr 15-min, collecting radar images of the surface in strips about 17-28 km (10-17 mi) wide and radioed back the information. Magellan was carried into space in the shuttle cargo bay of STS-30 Atlantis, launched 4 May 1989, and was the first planetary spacecraft to be released from a shuttle in Earth orbit. The Magellan mission also provided gravity, atmospheric and other measurements. On 11 Oct 1994, it was directed towards the surface, collecting data until it broke up and partially vaporized in the atmosphere.

Physics History
In 1994, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued a press release that physicists there recently cooled atoms to 700 nanokelvins, the coldest temperature ever recorded for matter. NIST scientists chilled a cloud of cesium atoms very close to absolute zero using lasers to catch the atoms in an optical lattice. The atoms reached 700 nanokelvins, or 700 billionths of a degree above absolute zero. Zero kelvin (-273ºC), or absolute zero, is the temperature at which atomic thermal motion would cease. Since the late 1970s, physicists have sought to use lasers to cool atoms closer to absolute zero, primarily for improving atomic timekeeping, certain experimental measurements and lithography processes for the semiconductor industry.

Chemistry History
In 1774, Joseph Priestley, British Presbyterian minister and chemist, identified a gas which he called "dephlogisticated air" -- later known as oxygen. Priestley found that mercury heated in air became coated with "red rust of mercury," which, when heated separately, was converted back to mercury with "air" given off. Studying this "air" given off, he observed that candles burned very brightly in it. Also, a mouse in a sealed vessel with it could breathe it much longer than ordinary air. A strong believer in the phlogiston theory, Priestley considered it to be "air from which the phlogiston had been removed." Further experiments convinced him that ordinary air is one fifth dephlogisticated air, the rest considered by him to be phlogiston.

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The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. - Dorothy Parker

Thank you for your continued support. We are proud to be your science equipment source. Contact us when we can assist you in making science exciting and meaningful for your students.