Bell High School 2010 - Ottawa, ON
Top: Tracy Walker (CLS), Eric Langlois, Sherry Chu, Tim Xu, Victor Malkov, Yongjian Lu
Bottom: David Chevrier (CLS), Diana Hall (Bell HS), Nicole Sidebottom, Robert Blyth (CLS)
The B-SYNC Team from Bell High School in Ottawa, ON consisted of five Grade 11 and 12 students who were eager to participate in the Students on the Beamlines program. Their research focused on studying the effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on the growth of bean plants. They wondered if the plants would absorb the nanoparticles through their roots. Plants were grown in varying concentrations of nanoparticles mixed with potting soil. Roots, stems, and leaves were separated and prepared for analysis. Although observations of plant growth indicated that the higher concentrations of nanoparticles did have an effect on growth, analysis using the spherical grating monochromator (SGM) beamline did not reveal a detectable level of titanium in the plant tissue.
View their poster for more information.
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The team locked in the animal entrance to the biomedical beamline area during their introductory tour. |
Vials of dried and crushed roots, stems, & leaves ready for preparation for the beamline. |
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Inspecting a sample to ensure it was prepared properly. |
Sample preparation is a meticulous process. |
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Placing the ground samples into the sample chamber |
Close up view of the samples in the chamber. You can see two of the three platforms that hold a sprinkling of the sample. |
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Media coverage of the students while collecting data |
Watching the X-ray absorption data as the sample is scanned |
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Making sense of the scans |
Giving a presentation to the facility regarding their research findings |
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Getting advice from our Executive Director, Josef Hormes (left) |
Last modified: 2012-01-19 17:01:39