Spin Coating and Wrinkles

We will work on setting up the slides by spin coating and then going to the Hasbrouck building, since that is where the microscope is set up, to take pictures of the film and the wrinkles.
Placed three large petri dishes in the hood, they will hold the finished slides. Placed several weighing papers inside on the bottom to keep the slides from getting contaminated. Each petri dish will hold the three slides that each one of us will make. I made my slides by the usual procedure: clean surface of spin coater, place slide on spin coater, set speed to 1200 RPM, clean slide with acetone, spin to remove acetone, place solution on slide, spin to coat slide, remove and place in petri dish. Once I was done will all three, I covered the petri dish, this is to prevent contamination here and on our way to Hasbrouck. Sabra and David prepared their slides.
We walked over to the Habrouck building since that is where the instruments are set up to take the pictures of the wrinkles.

We then set up the slide so we could score the size of the film we wish to float onto the water.

We then floated the film onto the water and started the wrinkling by adding tiny amounts of water,2 mL at a time and taking pictures.


During each addition of water, we took picture of the overall film and a picture zoomed in on the drop and the wrinkles it created. The pictures were then analyzed using the Image-J program, for areas, and then the Origin program, for numerical analysis.

For more pictures of the process, check the pictures link on the upper right hand of blog.