GLY306                                                                                                                 Petrology

Scanning Electron Microscope Laboratory

Location for this exercise is in Laboratory B1, in the basement of Squire Hall on the South Campus
Peter Bush is the Director of this lab

The lab will begin with a short lecture by Peter Bush on the principles behind the physics of examination of materials with the SEM.  Then the class will have two samples to analyze.  These might be polished chips of rocks mounted in epoxy or doubly polished thin sections with the cover glass removed so that the electron bean will directly contact the sample surface.  You will observe the sample in a light microscope and photograph its surface as a map for your later SEM examination under high power.  For each sample the class will analyze 4 to 6 grains and you will later identify the minerals from their spectra.

The written laboratory report for this exercise should follow this outline:

1) Background of the Instrumentation

a) Nature of the electron microscope used

b) Characteristics of radiation emitted by target

c) Detectors used in our lab exercise

d) Phenomena that were recorded

2) Thin section  examined

a) Nature of the sample

b) How the analysis was made

c) Type of information obtained

d) Results of the analysis

4) Conclusions