Question: on the first photo what was it because it looks like a rocket

Kerry O'Shea answered on 11 Nov 2014:

Hi Tai-se, you’ve been asking lots of good questions!

The photograph is of an electron microscope. Normal microscopes use light to see an object, but this one uses electrons because it allows us to see much smaller things – I can look at individual atoms with this microscope!

The electrons are fired from a gun at the top, they then travel through a sample and then we can see them through the set of binoculars at the bottom. It’s a very complicated microscope and you have to pass a driving test to use it!