RESEARCH

Vitamin C Under The Microscope

Seeing beautiful patterns within an everyday substance

The art of photomicrography has revealed intricate structures of Vitamin C or ascorbic acid. Spike Walker and David Maitland explored the complex forms of the everyday substance under the microscope and revealed dazzling and unexpected imagery.
Image: Spike Walker
"Vitamin C is a colourless white powder, but if you dissolve it in water and crystallise it, under a polarising light microscope the colours and forms that you see are spectacular. Vitamin C just comes alive; the colours, the patterns of crystal formation are wonderful, wonderful things"
David Maitland
Image: David Maitland