Atomic force microscopes are used to look at things on the nanoscale level, or around 1300 times thinner than a human hair and 120,000 times smaller than a dime. Humans can’t see things that small, and the smallestthat most light microscopes can see is 200 nm. Blood carries oxygen through the body by using ferritin. Ferritin is a form of iron in your body that binds to oxygen, which turns your blood to “rust” or turn red. The body releases ferritin to carry more oxygen through the body, which helps the body heal faster. By finding where ferritin gathers and how much of it there is, we can diagnose different types of diseases. However, ferritin is only about 20 nanometers wide, so we cannot find it with light microscopes. We need to find a way to analyze the amount of ferritin in a sample with the stronger, atomic force microscope.
Atomic Microscope TEK8 Student Guide
The student handout will be given to all students working on the design challenge. It gives a brief recap of the story, it helps the students identify what they are attempting to achieve, and it recaps the design process.
Atomic Microscope TEK8 Instructor’s Guide
This Instructor’s Guide provides the instructor additional information on how to run the design challenge with alternatives for materials and test setups as well as information to help make the design challenge a good educational experience.
The Telling the Story Video conveys the societal impact of the student’s research that is the basis for the design challenge and will set the problem-solving context for students.
The Design Challenge Video leads students through the design process. It indicates materials available, states what the criteria are for success and any constraints. It also gives a second ‘level’ of the design challenge that allows ‘early completers’ to move on to a slightly more difficult challenge.