Practicing, I slide the microtome across my careful trapezoid of paraffin wax, peeling down slices eight micrometers thick.
Eight micrometers. Do you have any idea how thin that is?
A piece of paper is 0.1 millimeters thick.
It would take just over one hundred of my slices to equal the thickness of one piece of paper.
In an attempt to transfer a string of my slices to the warm, distilled water solution waiting on the counter, I accidentally let it rest against my finger. It takes no more than a second of contact for the wax to liquefy, melting into the grooves between the lines of my fingerprints.
I can't help but smile.
It's beautiful.
I love lab work.
No comments:
Post a Comment