Stained glass windows? No, these kaleidoscopic images reveal the hidden beauty of PLASTIC BAGS under the microscope

  • Professor Bernardo Cesare from Italy has taken microscopic images of plastic bags
  • By cutting up bags into little pieces he revealed an amazing array of colours in the objects
  • The amazing patterns became apparent when they were shone with polarised light
  • Normally nylon - which the bags are made of - appears stark black when viewed under a microscope
  • But cutting it up unto millimeter-sized chunks unveils an array of marks, lines and blemishes  

By Jonathan O'Callaghan for MailOnline

Published: 06:57 EST, 3 November 2014 | Updated: 15:19 EST, 3 November 2014

Plastic bags are often bemoaned as a scourge of the environment, polluting the natural world with unwanted litter.

But one professor has shown how they don't necessarily need to be viewed so negatively.

He placed them under the microscope to reveal the hidden beauty on a tiny scale in the form of colourful blemishes, patterns and more.

Professor Bernardo Cesare from Italy has taken microscopic images of plastic bags (shown). By cutting up bags into little pieces he revealed an amazing array of colours in the objects

Professor Bernardo Cesare from Italy has taken microscopic images of plastic bags (shown). By cutting up bags into little pieces he revealed an amazing array of colours in the objects

While these spectacular pictures might look like stained glass windows, they are in fact just everyday plastic bags.

Professor Bernardo Cesare, 51, put a stretched fragment of a bag under a microscope as he was curious to see what it would look like.

HOW ARE THE IMAGES CREATED? 

Plastic bags are made of nylon which normally appears black under microscopic images.

But when it is deformed, either through industrial processes or by being torn apart as it was by Professor Cesare, it exhibits unpredictable colours under polarised light – when light waves are aligned parallel to each other.

Each of the images here shows just a small fragment of plastic bag, often just a few millimeters across. 

They show what a basic, colourless plastic bag looks like when it goes under the microscope.

When zoomed in, the simple plastic carrier displays a stunning array of colourful patterns. 

Whilst the bag was under the microscope, Professor Cesare shone a polarised light on it to enhance the colours.

The colours are created when light is split into its components. When it emerges from the plastic certain wavelengths are interfered with, creating the vivid display. 

Professor Cesare, who works as a professor of petrology - the study of rocks - and lives in Chirignago, Italy, was told by a friend that plastic bags provide such colourful patterns.

This inspired him to create the images and reveal the hidden beauty of these almost universally hated objects.

He said: 'They were taken at a friend's home. She owns a microscope because she's a geologist.

'She told me that they provided very colourful images. So I tried.

'I was there just to take artistic pictures, but I have been using a microscope for about 30 years for my research and teaching.'

The amazing patterns became apparent when a piece of bag was shone with polarised light. Normally nylon - which the bags are made of - appears stark black when viewed under a microscope. But cutting it up unto millimeter-sized chunks unveils an array of blemishes

The amazing patterns became apparent when a piece of bag was shone with polarised light. Normally nylon - which the bags are made of - appears stark black when viewed under a microscope. But cutting it up unto millimeter-sized chunks unveils an array of blemishes

Professor Cesare used a stretched fragment of a bag under a microscope as he was curious to see what it would look like
Professor Cesare used a stretched fragment of a bag under a microscope as he was curious to see what it would look like

Professor Cesare used a stretched fragment of a bag under a microscope as he was curious to see what it would look like

Whilst the bag was under the microscope, Professor Cesare (shown) shone a special polarised light on it to enhance the colours

Whilst the bag was under the microscope, Professor Cesare (shown) shone a special polarised light on it to enhance the colours

Professor Cesare said that bags without colour actually create more vivid patterns because light can pass better through them.

He said: 'It was a colourless plastic bag. Transparent bags work better than coloured ones.

'Not all types of plastic are photogenic - it depends on the thickness and material.

'Plastic gives a lot of curved edges and continuous variations of colours.

'The colours are "interference colours" that form when polarised light passes through transparent matter such as crystals and in this case plastic.

'The colours depend on the thickness of the plastic foil, and on the orientation of the polarised light.'

But while the images might seem amazing Professor Cesare says he doesn't have plans to exhibit them in any sort of art exhibit. He merely undertook the project for a bit of fun to reveal the beauty of the humble plastic bag. 

 Professor Cesare said that bags without colour actually create more vivid patterns because light can pass better through them

 Professor Cesare said that bags without colour actually create more vivid patterns because light can pass better through them

He said: 'It was a colourless plastic bag. Transparent bags work better than coloured ones'
He said: 'It was a colourless plastic bag. Transparent bags work better than coloured ones'

He said: 'It was a colourless plastic bag. Transparent bags work better than coloured ones'

Professor Cesare added: 'The colours are "interference colours" that form when polarised light passes through transparent matter such as crystals and in this case plastic'

Professor Cesare added: 'The colours are "interference colours" that form when polarised light passes through transparent matter such as crystals and in this case plastic'

While the images might seem amazing Professor Cesare says he doesn't have plans to exhibit them in any sort of art exhibit. He merely undertook the project for a bit of fun to reveal the beauty of the humble plastic bag

While the images might seem amazing Professor Cesare says he doesn't have plans to exhibit them in any sort of art exhibit. He merely undertook the project for a bit of fun to reveal the beauty of the humble plastic bag

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