The leaf, a vital organ of a plant.



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Leaves are organs that are usually in vascular plants and is attached to a stem.

A better way of saying a leaf is calling it a shoot, which shows stems including their appendages. 

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Just know that the main thing leaves are used for the plant is for photosynthesis.

Leaves are very thin and the reason for their green color is because of the chloroplasts that are in them.

The primary photosynthetic tissue that is found in the leaf is called palisade mesophyll that is usually on the upper side of the leaf. 







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In general there are the two parts in a leaf: the blade and the petiole. In the blade, there is a center vein that runs across the blade which is called midrib. From this midrib, many smaller veins branch throughout the blade and into the rest of the leaf.

In the autumn, a certain pigment called anthocyanin is formed only when the leaf is about to die, which gives off a red-purple pigment. 

 

 

 

 

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thick sputum (AKA: phlegm)

When you have been sick, have you ever coughed up something that seems to be saliva

but at the same time, is much thicker and grosser?

Chances are, you just coughed up dead bacteria, virus, and other kinds of invaders in your body.

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As shown in this picture, sputum is a gel-like liquid that is coughed up from your 

respiratory tracts such as your lungs. Sputum is different from mucus which you likely cough up more frequently than sputum since mucus is generally from mucous membranes such as your nose.




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From this picture, it is evident that sputum is not just filled with saliva. As stated earlier, 

sputum is covered in other kinds of substances and anything considered invasive to your body. 

Usually when one has a cold, sputum acts as a trap to capture any pathogens or viruses trying to attack your respiratory tract. 



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Now colors of the sputum matter as it indicates what condition your body is in and what 

the body is facing against. 

According to Medical Daily, white colored sputum is considered to be from an upper respiratory tract infection which is likely what the person who spit out this sputum is having trouble with (yeah.. it's not my sputum).

 

Just remember as you see these pictures, that if your body ever makes you cough sputum out, don't just swallow it back into your body! 

After all, now you know what sputum are consisted of when coughed out. 

 





stink...dust. steam vaccum water

 I looked at the dirtied water after the house was steam vacuumed and I couldn't help

but wonder how it would look under the microscope. 

What kinds of particles are there?

Is it really all dust?

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Looking into it, I saw that while most of the clusters were of dust particles

that gradually settled into the carpet after a few days, 

I noticed that some of the items here were quite interesting. As you can see here, 

There is a broken safety pin here which I thankfully never stepped on. 

 

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Zooming in, I saw that it wasn't just dust that resided into the carpet, but also other kinds

of particles in different structures and sizes which faintly surprised me since while I knew dust and particles would come in different sizes and shape, I didn't think I would see something as big as the ones in the picture. 

 

As I looked under the microscope at these last two pictures, I realized that there were 

some mysterious structures that decided to join in with the dust particles; showing that even our  carpets have a vast world of their own. 

 

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The power of life-green onion

Now I know many families in America tend to throw away the skin (external layer) of an onion peel because they find no use of it. Well research recently showed that rather than adding them onto the tons of waste already in the U.S., the external layer could be used for other purposes as it was found to have fiber and other kinds of compounds. 

 

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Onions also consist of what is called flavonoids which are rich sources of plant compounds. One of the most important one is called a quercetin which a strong anti-oxidant and inflammatory compound. Research also shows that by eating fiber that is on the external layer as well, one is able to have less of a chance of having cardiovascular diseases.





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Since onions are not animals, the are filled with plant cells which differ in many ways from a animal cell. One significant different is that plant cells have a rectangular shape as it has a cell wall on the outside of it to prevent loss of water, support the cell itself (let it have its structure), and is a filter.

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finger print

When we were all babies, I am pretty sure most of us had the habit of sucking our chubby thumb after our binkies were gone. I am here to show you that doing something like that is a way for you to allow more unfriendly foreigners into your body. 



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For those of you lazy people who decide that in order to get out of the bathroom in a hurry, you quickly rinse your hands, thus "cleaning" them, it just leaves you in a similar position as before when you didn't wash your hands. Because while the water does wash away some bacteria, majority of the pathogens are staying there waiting to invade your body.

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Just another quick advice to those who rinse: Some of you may think that hot water will solve everything about the bacteria problem. Well . . . you're wrong. Bacteria WON'T die in hot water and will just stay on your skin like how they are on this picture unless you turn the water up to over 140 degrees in temperature which you should never do unless you want burns.

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While it is true that some E. Coli's are harmless and are actually beneficial to your human body (in your intestinal tract), others are just pathogenic meaning they could harm you by giving you illnesses and problems in your intestinal tract leading to diarrhea. And the bacteria that stick to your hands are not an exception.

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http://www.health.state.mn.us/handhygiene/why/index.html
For more information, click the link above ^^^

Curly Invisible Hair

When you see ordinary cloth that is usually soft, do you ever wonder just how small the linear strands that create this cloth is?

 

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As you can see throughout these pictures, unlike ordinary fibers, these fibers, called microfibers, are indeed micro small. They have to be looked under the microscope to see it at the size of an ordinary strand of fiber. 

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When  actually measure them, the strands make less than a diameter of the size of  an ordinary line of silk (1/5 the diameter of a human hair).

Normally, either polymer chains also called Polyesters or the macro molecules called Polyamides create these small waves of fiber.   

 

With these micro fibers, they are used to form items such as mats, knits, cloths, cleaning products, etc.

The way they shape and combine the synthetic fibers results in different characteristics starting from softness and absorption to water repellent and filtration.  

 

 

 

 

 

 







Mayonnaise, a nose's greatest weakness

Shut your noses everyone!! Or get ready to double up with the whif of the Mayo!

(Or is it just me that hates the smell of this little dressing?)



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Now you may be wondering what is inside mayonnaise (not the ingredients).
To begin with, know that mayonnaise is really an emulsion "formed from eggs and fat seasoned with lemon juice or vinegar and salt" as stated by Will at Wordpress.com.
As seen in these pictures, Mayonnaise is filled with fat (obviously not good to eat globs at a time)
or more specifically, emulsion which is water and oil mixed together. They are thick in texture as well.

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There is just one problem in these emulsions: they cannot dissolve. Well for one, you could see they are a bit unstable since as water combines with oil, they begin to split off (thus there is a way to form the emulsions which, shortly explained, break the liquid mass.)

 






Duck Down Tender Feather

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Most of you know that inside the soft pillow you use to sleep on

is filled with either cotton or, in most cases, feathers. However, 

please know that usually, these feathers aren't the ordinary feathers you 

find on the outer parts of birds.  

 

 

The feathers birds contain on the external layer are tough compared to the internal ones. 

The internal feathers, also known as down feathers, are very soft and 

are used as an insulation against cold weather (its main function) by trapping air. 

Through this reason, many industries use down feathers for jackets, pillows, sleeping bags, and much more.  

 

 

 

 

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Just additional information: Certain birds, such as herons, have unique down feathers called 

powder down which acts as a water repellent by spreading powder over one's body. 

(So there are two types of down feathers). 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 












So wool! So cool!

 

 

As we all know, wool is the textile fiber which is obtained mainly through sheep. 

The fibers are actually kept together by the scaling and crimp which helps the fleece be spun and attached.

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Because we live in a much more comfortable world than before, we are able to purchase wool without thinking about how it was made and when we do, we assume it's a simple task. 

However, wool straight off a sheep is called "greasy wool" because it consists of dead skin, pesticides, and vegetable matter that needs to be cleaned.

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There are grades for wool that are separated by Merinos (such as "ultra fine" or "strong")

 

Out of all the animal fibers, the wool is the most commonly used out of all of them!

The fibers really look like scaly cylinders under the microscope.

While there may only be a few in the pictures, there are actually millions of them in the wool!

So Wool!















Cloudy graphite (4B) Pencil

The entirely carbon-composed mineral is something that we all use in our daily lives. 

Where you may ask?

The answer: In our pencils!

 

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You may have already noticed from the title that I inserted 4B in parenthesis because there are different kinds of graphite used in pencils that result in them being varied to different usages. 

The 4B here is not the type of graphite used in a test-taking situation at school. Rather, it is used more in a drawing situation.

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The reason why graphite here is not really used in a school or note taking situation is because it is very brittle and gives off a much darker color than an ordinary pencil we normally use. Here in the picture a 4B graphite is shown when it is broken (when used) and it shows that unlike an ordinary graphite pencil, this one gives off a much more scattered color sense and is much darker than others.  

A chart is shown online where it displays the different graphite used, scaling from the lightest (being 9H) to the darkest (being 9xxB) also showing that while the 4B here may seem to be a very dark color, there are much more darker and brittle ones above it. 

Now you may be wondering why kind of graphite we use on a normal basis, we use a type called HB. The letter "H" indicates hardness of the pencil while "B" designates the blackness of a graphite. 

In the graphite we were mentioning until now, 4B, has only one difference which is the number. The number indicates that as it grows, it will become much softer than the previous one. For example, 4B would be much softer than 2B meaning it would break faster. 



HB graphite on pencil

 Picture shows a normal pencil right? 

Well how many of you wondered just what kind of graphite you're using for your daily tests and homework at school? (probably not huh but I'll tell you in hopes that 

this information will come in handy in the future). 



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HB pencil drawing on the Kleenex tissue 40X

As seen, not as dark as other pencils that are used for different purposes

but still shows a bit of darkness. 

*This is not regarding HB graphite however, just something I think you should know in the future: 

the lightest lead/graphite is called a 9H while the darkest graphite found is the 9xxB!*



 

 

 

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dandelion

When I looked at a taraxacum (dandelion) I never in a lifetime thought it would look something like a wall that was almost wooden looking.

 

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What amazed me the most when looking at it was the spirogyra (which looks like a cluster of noodles or a piece of spring) which, believe it or not, is a cluster of chloroplasts!


 

 

 

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When the spirogyra was stained, it looks more clear with a better quality.


Spirogyras reproduce when water is warm and there are lots of minerals. The cells quickly divide and the chain grows longer. It may break to form new chains.





Now you may also be wondering: Do they reproduce when they're in cold weather? Certainly!
When cold, 2 neighboring threads and tiny projections reach the opposite cells and form a tube connecting both sides. The things that are in the cell shrink and move to the other cell's cytoplasm.
This type of reproduction is called Conjugation.


 

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All these pictures were taken from a vertical angle of the dandelion*


Celery





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Ever thought that when you looked closer at a celery peel it would still have that light greenish color? Wrong! The peel is a brownish and dark green color. 

Notice the fibers as well!

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Know why your parents always tell you to eat celery? Well for one, you can see the many fibers it has. There are soluble fibers in these little plants. The soluble fibers absorb water creating a gel-like mass going to the digestive tract and aiding it. 



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And finally, Cleveland Clinic stated that eating those fibers lead to a lower rate of having diabetes meaning a healthier life!  Eat healthy!



 

And finally, Cleveland Clinic stated that eating those fibers lead to a lower rate of having diabetes

meaning a healthier life! 

Eat healthy! 

sponge Bob








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The sponge (material NOT the living ones) is a tool used to clean the surfaces when they're dirty. They are famous for their ability of absorbing water and water based solutions.

 

 

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Sponges are made of cellulose wood fibers or plastic polymers (molecules with high molar masses). 



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rose leaf



There are over 100 different types of rose species around the world that can grow together to create shrubs consisting of thorns of the roses. 

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Almost every rose has five petals on them which are used to attract insects to help them pollinate. 



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The thorns that are all around the surface of a rose is actually called a prickle. A prickle is the outgrowth of an epidermis or the outer layer of the tissue of the stem. 

 

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