A Simple Low-Vacuum Environmental Cell
The environmental cell device discussed in this paper provides a modest low-vacuum scanning electron microscopy (SEM) capability to a standard SEM without requiring additional pumping. This environmental cell confines a volume of low vacuum in contact with the sample surface using a container that has an aperture for admitting the primary electron beam. The aperture is large enough to permit a limited field of view of the sample, and small enough to limit the outflow of gas into the SEM chamber to that which can be accommodated by the standard SEM pumping system. This environmental cell also functions as a gaseous detector device.
Theory of the Gaseous Detector Device in the Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope
Publisher Summary This chapter presents a survey of previous works in related fields, coupled with current experience in the environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM). This microscope allows the examination of specimens in the presence of a gaseous environment. The scintillation produced by various signals can also be used for making images, and a generalized gaseous detector device (GDD) was proposed. GDD is based on the principle of classical gaseous particle detectors adapted to the specific requirements of the ESEM. The chapter presents an account of the new terminology associated with ESEM. Physical principles for the analysis of ESEM are electron and ion temperature, imaging parameters, theory of induced signal, and induced signals in the ESEM. Whereas, the physical parameters involved in the performance of the GDD are electron and ion mobilities, diffusion, recombination, electron attachment, and effective ionization energy. The chapter outlines the discharge characteristics and accounts for amplification, parallel plates; the first Townsend coefficient; the Paschen law; and secondary processes. The ESEM is a radiation source immersed inside a gas, and, therefore, the methods of nuclear and particle physics for spectroscopic analysis can be applied. Principles of spectroscopy including spectroscopy, statistics, and energy resolution and environmental scanning transmission electron microscopy are discussed. The chapter focusses on mechanisms of a high gaseous gain.
The Intuitive Physics of the Equilibrium of the Lever and of the Hydraulic Pressures: Implications for the Teaching of Elementary Physics.
The research field of intuitive physics focuses on discrepancies between 
theoretical and intuitive physical knowledge. Consideration of these 
discrepancies can help in the teaching of elementary physics. However, 
evidence shows that theoretical and intuitive physical knowledge may also 
be congruent. Physics teaching could further benefit from understanding the 
reasons for this congruence. The present study explored these reasons by 
investigating the intuitive physics of the equilibrium of the lever and of the 
hydraulic pressures. It was found that the intuitive-physics law of the lever 
was multiplicative for all participants while the intuitive-physics law of the 
hydraulic pressures differed among participants. Since these laws are 
equally simple and the layman probably has had extensive experience with 
the lever and scarce or no experience with the hydraulic lift, these findings 
support the general hypothesis that physical laws and corresponding 
intuitive-physics laws are congruent when people have had experience with 
the respective phenomena. The results and theoretical considerations suggest 
two strategic principles for teaching elementary physics.