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Salt Crystals Under the Microscope The following images were obtained using a polarizing microscope. The sample above is of a mixture of potassium chloride, sodium chloride, and calcium chloride at 37 degrees Celsius at 40x total magnification using a quartz wedge. A quartz wedge is a compensator that fits into a slot in the microscope in order to better visualize the sample. The sample above is …

Polarized Light Microscopy Polarization contrast is a contrast method to detect birefringence, which is a material characteristic that can be found in minerals, polymers, crystals, pharmaceutical samples, biomedical samples and even botanical samples. Birefringence is the optical property of a material having a refractive index that depends on the polarization and propagation direction of light. I …