COLEGIO EXPERIMENTAL SEK LOS VALLES SCIENCE DEPARTMENT BIOLOGY LAB PRACTICE Practice No: 1 Class: 5th A Name:

Carolina Santander Date: 05/10/13 Title: Making wet mount slide

Objectives: To learn how to wet mount a specimen. To learn more about cells, how they look like, and their different structures. To learn more about microscopes and their uses.

Introduction: A wet mount slide allows you to observe preserved or live material under the microscope. Some samples can be placed directly under the microscope. Others look better when placed in a drop of water on the microscope slide. This is known as a wet mount. Water helps support the sample and fills the space between the cover slip and the slide allowing light to pass easily through the slide, the sample, and the cover slip.

Methodology: Materials. Slides

Cover slips Iodine Pipette Elodea Red pepper Banana Potato

Procedure & data collection. Red pepper: Grab some of the peel of the red pepper with the nails and tear off a little piece. Add one or two drops of water. Cover the slide. Give a little tap. Ready for viewing. First, watch the slide on 4x. Watch the slide on 10x. Watch the slide on 40x. Make a drawing of each.

4x

10x

40x

Banana: Break off a little piece of the banana.

Drop a little bit on the slide. Add a drop or two of iodine on the slide. Cover the slide. Ready for viewing. First, watch the slide on 4x. Watch the slide on 10x. Watch the slide on 40x. Make a drawing of each.

4x

10x

40x

Potato: Cut a very thin slice of the potato. (Translucent) Add a couple of drops of iodine on the slide. Cover the slide. Ready for viewing. First, watch the slide on 4x. Watch the slide on 10x. Watch the slide on 40x. Make a drawing of each.

4x

10x

40x

 Elodea: Put one leaf on the slide. Add one or two drops of water on it. Cover the slide. Ready for viewing. First, watch the slide on 4x. Watch the slide on 10x. Watch the slide on 40x. Make a drawing of each.

4x

10x

40x

Conclusion and evaluation: A wet mount slide allows you to observe preserved or live material under the microscope. Some samples were placed with a drop of water on the microscope slide, and others with a drop of iodine to see better results. Water helps support the sample and fills the space between the cover slip and the slide allowing light to pass easily. If there is too much water and the cover slip is floating around, youll have to remove some water by holding toilet paper above the cover slip. If theres too little water, and some of the space under the cover slip is still dry, youll have to add more water on the cover slip. Thick samples, are difficult to see with the microscope; for example if the sample touches the cover slip and prevents it from lying flat, the water wont be able to fill the space

between the slide and the cover slip. You can fix this by cutting smaller pieces of the sample. On this experiment, we could watch different types of plant cells and we could learn more about their shapes and colours.

Bibliography:
Anonimous. (2013, October 06). legacy.mos.org. Retrieved from legacy.mos.org: http://legacy.mos.org/sln/sem/wetmount.html Anonimous. (2013, October 06). www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved from www.merriam-webster.com: http://www.merriamwebster.com/medical/wet%20mount Anonimous. (2013, October 06). www.scs.sk.ca. Retrieved from www.scs.sk.ca: http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/elem/learningcommunity/sciences/biology20/c urr_content/biology20/wet_mount_slide.htm