I can add a few.
Wood shop applications:
- Assuring sharp cutting edges. We have a craftsman demo this in "Micronaut" sessions.
- Wood species ID
- Glue joint failure analysis
Metal shop applications
- Removing metal splinters
- Low power scope over lathe for tiny parts
- Reading tiny thread gauges
- Metal screen sizing (also cloth, for those who need that)
- Some methods of hardness testing
- Surface finish comparison
- Cutting edge wear analysis (a college-era R&D co-op job)
- Optical comparison and measurement. I use a stereo microscope with a cross-hair reticle and an x-y stage fitted with Mitutoyo digital readouts
Electronics
- Reading component ID's
- Soldering small components
- Finding hot spots if an IR-sensor-equipped scope
Polarization to ID materials
- Tracking micro-plastics in the ocean is a "thing" here
- Check out dryer lint for plastic vs. natural fibers hints at CSI applications
- Hundreds of applications in the McCrone guide. It's expensive and a bit frustrating (typos), but the most exhaustive source I've seen - while barely covering petrographic applications:
https://www.mccrone.com/product/essenti ... tbook-ed2/
Failure analysis
- I've used a scope to ID fatigue failures (produced a film ages ago on the topic). There are dozens of other applications for corrosion, fretting, etc.
Micronaut mentors. Folks I've equipped with scopes or encountered as part of my "Micronaut" program have had some interesting applications:
- "Moose" Henderson (famous wildlife photographer) got a PhD in moose poop. He examined it to determine their browsing habits and the prospects for sustainable health.
- A local church bought a Nikon scope (cheap) to send to an African hospital for malaria diagnosis.
- Two local people have been involved in queen bee insemination - one fairly famous for bringing bees back into the city.
- Plankton research is a big deal all around the Monterey Bay area.
- A ex-Google PhD is automating hydroponic agriculture.
- A Berkely PhD archaeology student is examining seeds from a thousand years back.
- Soil analysis has been an interest for a dozen folks. The idea is improving soil productivity.
- Agricultural pest management for both a Prof and two students
- Aquaculture to analyze fish health. Also two aquarium owners.
- Veterinarians.
- Beer-brewing in Brazil. A family traveling to the Bay Area wanted a good scope for their microbrewing business. Their son, one of the most amazing kids I've met, also left with a stereo microscope and a Micronaut t-shirt.
- Several teachers use them (camera and wide-screen equipped) in their classrooms
- We do micro-hunts with young primary-school kids and stereo microscopes. Sadly, it's only teachers at private schools who seem to have the time and freedom to engage in project-based learning. We have another idea to fix that.
- A local science-minded librarian, with a library next to a lagoon, runs a summer Lagoon Scientist program for kids.
- Graduation gift. Turns out the brainy and beautiful wife-to-be was about to finish her BS in microbiology at our local university. Equally dashing and bright husband-to-be (graduating in engineering) sealed the deal with an Olympus microscope as a graduation gift. I bet they'll have great lives.
- We have a marvelous "Open Studios" event for artists in our County each year. One of these artists is now doing micro-art of the sort sometimes seen here.
- Painting restoration (think wonderful old oil paintings) is another application for one user.
- One local scientist is using a specially-equipped (but still cheap) microscope to investigate the effect of dust on solar cell efficiency at locations around the world.
- Our area is awash in microscopes formerly used for silicon wafer quality control. Today's semiconductor features are too small for optical microscopy, but it's still a cool application.
Traveling abroad without a plane ticket and visiting alien worlds without a rocket ship
- OK, it's sort of a joke, but the same sort of jaw-dropping discovery one can get from traveling and exploration can be had by examining the world at micro-scale. Meteorites reveal the origins of elements at the early stages of the universe. I've learned (from Stephen, here) that agatized dinosaur bones provide a link to our prehistoric past. The same sort of drama one gets by spending tens of thousands to visit Africa's Serengeti is pretty much seen (metaphorically) in a mud puddle. The price of entry can be as little as $100 for a decent used microscope. A bit more improves the view. For adults and about the price of a First-class plane ticket, one can have a lifetime of views through something like a DIC microscope.
The general trend in both science and technology is that we're going from understanding things at "life-size" to better understanding how they work at micro-scale. Think cells, chromosomes, DNA, nano-particles, atmospheric contaminents, composite materials, micro-robots, micro-circuits, dendrites in new battery technologies, neural implants, and so on. My motto? The
NEXT BIG THING in science and technology will probably be too small to see . . . without a microscope of some kind.