A microscope's function is to see things at different levels or magnifications

(e.g. cells that cannot be seen with a naked eye).

1. Eyepiece: The eyepiece (sometimes called the 'ocular') is the lens of the
microscope closest to the eye that you look through. It is half of the
magnification equation (eyepiece power multiplied by objective power
equals magnification), and magnifies the image made by the objective
lens... sometimes called the virtual image. Eyepieces come in many
different powers. One can identify which power any given eyepiece is by
the inscription on the eyecup of the lens, such as "5x," "10x," or "15X."
Oculars are also designed with different angles of view; the most
common is the wide field (W.F.).
2. Eyepiece Holder: This simply connects the eyepiece to the microscope
body, usually with a set-screw to allow the user to easily change the
eyepiece to vary magnifying power.
3. Body: The main structural support of the microscope which connects the
lens apparatus to the base.
4. Nose Piece: This connects the objective lens to the microscope body.
With a turret, or rotating nose piece as many as five objectives can be
attached to create different powers of magnification when rotated into
position and used with the existing eyepiece.
5. Objective: The lens closest to the object being viewed which creates a
magnified image in an area called the "primary image plane." This is the
other half of the microscope magnification equation (eyepiece power
times objective power equals magnification). Objective lenses have many
designs and qualities which differ with each manufacturer. Usually
inscribed on the barrel of the objective lens is the magnification power
and the numerical aperture (a measure of the limit of resolution of the
lens).
6. Focusing Mechanism: Adjustment knobs to allow coarse or fine
(hundredths of a millimeter) variations in the focusing of the stage or
objective lens of the microscope.
7. Stage: The platform on which the prepared slide or object to be viewed is
placed. A slide is usually held in place by spring-loaded metal stage clips.
More sophisticated high-powered microscopes have mechanical stages
which allow the viewer to smoothly move the stage along the X
(horizontal path) and Y (vertical path) axis. A mechanical stage is a must
for high-power observing.

8. Illumination Source: The means employed to light the object to be

viewed. The simplest is the illuminating mirror which reflects an ambient
light source to light the object. Many microscopes have an electrical light
source for easier and more consistent lighting. Generally electrical light
sources are either tungsten or fluorescent, the fluorescent being preferred
because it operates at a cooler temperature. Most microscopes illuminate
from underneath, through the object, to the objective lens. On the other
hand, stereo microscopes use both top and bottom illumination.
9. Base: The bottom or stand upon which the entire microscope rests or is
connected.

Compound light microscope:

1. Eyepiece (ocular lens): The part you look through. It has a lens that
magnifies the object, usually by ten times (10x). The magnifying power is
engraved on the side of the eyepiece.
2. Tube: Holds the eyepiece and the objective lenses at the proper working
distance from each other.
3. Revolving nosepiece: Rotating disk holds two or more objective lenses.
Turn it to change lenses. Each lens clicks into place.
4. Objective lenses: Magnify the object. Each lens has a different power of
magnification, such as 10x, 40x, and 100x.The magnifying power is
engraved on the side of each objective lens. Be sure you can identify each
lens. For example, the low-power objective lens is usually 10x.
5. Fine-adjustment knob: Use with medium- and high-power magnification
to bring the object into sharper focus.
6. Coarse-adjustment knob: Moves the tube or stage up or down and brings
the object into focus. Use it only with the low-power objective lens.
7. Stage Supports: the microscope slide. Clips hold the slides into position.
A hole in the center of the stage allows the light from the light source to
pass through the slide.

8. Condenser lens: Directs light to the object being viewed.

9. Diaphragm: Use this to control the amount of light reaching the object
being viewed.
10.Light source: Shining a light through the object being viewed makes it
easier to see the details. (Your microscope might have a mirror instead of
a light. If it does, you will adjust it to direct light through the lens.)

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The Microscope

Parts and Specifications

Historians credit the invention of the compound microscope to the Dutch
spectaclemaker, Zacharias Janssen, around the year 1590. The compound
microscope useslenses and light to enlarge the image and is also called an optical
or light microscope(vs./ an electron microscope)
.
The simplest optical microscope is the magnifying glassand is good to about ten
times (10X) magnification. The
compound
microscope
hastwo systems of lenses for greater magnification, 1) the ocular, or eyepiece lens
that onelooks into and 2) the objective lens, or the lens closest to the object. Before
purchasingor using a microscope, it is important to know the functions of each part.

Eyepiece Lens:
the lens at the top that you look through. They are usually 10X or 15Xpower.
Tube:

Connects the eyepiece to the objective lenses

Arm:
Supports the tube and connects it to the base
Base:
The bottom of the microscope, used for support
llluminator:
A steady light source (110 volts) used in place of a mirror. If your microscope has a
mirror, it is used to reflect light from an external light source upthrough the bottom
of the stage.
Stage:
The flat platform where you place your slides. Stage clips hold the slides inplace. If
your microscope has a mechanical stage, you will be able to move the slidearound
by turning two knobs. One moves it left and right, the other moves it up anddown.
Revolving Nosepiece or Turret:

This is the part that holds two or more objectivelenses and can be rotated to easily
change power.
Objective Lenses:
Usually you will find 3 or 4 objective lenses on a microscope. Theyalmost always
consist of 4X, 10X, 40X and 100X powers. When coupled with a 10X(most
common) eyepiece lens, we get total magnifications of 40X (4X times 10X), 100X,
400X and 1000X. To have good resolution at 1000X, you will need a
relativelysophisticated microscope with an Abbe condenser. The shortest lens is
the lowestpower, the longest one is the lens with the greatest power. Lenses are
color coded andif built to DIN standards are interchangeable between
microscopes. The high power objective lenses are retractable (i.e. 40XR). This
means that if they hit a slide, the endof the lens will push in (spring loaded) thereby
protecting the lens and the slide. Allquality microscopes have achromatic,
parcentered, parfocal lenses.
Rack Stop

This is an adjustment that determines how close the objective lens can getto the
slide. It is set at the factory and keeps students from cranking the high power
objective lens down into the slide and breaking things. You would only need to
adjustthis if you were using very thin slides and you weren't able to focus on the
specimen athigh power. (Tip
If you are using thin slides and can't focus, rather than adjust the rackstop, place a
clear glass slide under the original slide to raise it a bit higher)
Condenser Lens:
The purpose of the condenser lens is to focus the light onto thespecimen.
Condenser lenses are most useful at the highest powers (400X and
above).Microscopes with in stage condenser lenses render a sharper image than
those with nolens (at 400X). If your microscope has a maximum power of 400X,
you will get themaximum benefit by using a condenser lenses rated at 0.65 NA or
greater. 0.65 NAcondenser lenses may be mounted in the stage and work quite
well. A big advantage toa stage mounted lens is that there is one less focusing
item to deal with. If you go to
1000X then you should have a focusable condenser lens with an N.A. of 1.25 or
greater. Most 1000X microscopes use 1.25 Abbe condenser lens systems. The
Abbecondenser lens can be moved up and down. It is set very close to the slide at
1000Xand moved further away at the lower powers.
Diaphragm or Iris:
Many microscopes have a rotating disk under the stage. Thisdiaphragm has
different sized holes and is used to vary the intensity and size of thecone of light
that is projected upward into the slide. There is no set rule regarding whichsetting
to use for a particular power. Rather, the setting is a function of thetransparency of
the specimen, the degree of contrast you desire and the particular objective lens
in use.
1.
Eyepiece
: contains the ocular lens, which provides a magnification power of 10x to
15x,usually. This is where you look through.2.
Nosepiece
: holds the objective lenses and can be rotated easily to change magnification.3.
Objective lenses
: usually, there are three or four objective lenses on a microscope, consisting of
4x, 10x, 40x and 100x magnification powers. Inorder to obtain the total
magnification of an image,you need to multiply the eyepiece lens power by

theobjective lens power. So, if you couple a 10xeyepiece lens with a 40x
objective lens, the totalmagnification is of 10 x 40 = 400 times.4.
Stage clips
: hold the slide in place.5.
Stage
: it is a flat platform that supports the slide being analyzed.6.
Diaphragm
: it controls the intensity and size of the cone light projected on the specimen.As
a rule of thumb, the more transparent the specimen, less light is required.7.
Light source
: it projects light upwards through the diaphragm, slide and lenses.8.
Base
: supports the microscope.

9
.
C
ondenser lens
: it helps to focus the light onto the sample analyzed. They are
particularlyhelpful when coupled with the highest objective lens.10.
Arm
: supports the microscope when carried.11.
C
oarse adjustment knob

: when the knob is turned, the stage moves up or down, in order tocoarse adjust
the focus.12.
Fine adjustment knob

3p

History of the Microscope

Microscopes go back some 400 years, to the the late 16th or early 17th
century. There is still debate on who actually invented the instrument.
According to New World Encyclopedia, credit has been given to three different
eyeglass makers from the Netherlands: Hans Lippershey, Hans Janssen and
Zacharias Janssen. Galileo Galilei, in the 1600s, also invented a compound
microscope contributing to the field of microscopy. His device used lenses that
were concave and convex in shape.

Specific gravity is the ratio of density of a substance compared to the density of

fresh water at 4C (39 F). At this temperature the density of water is at its
greatest value and equal 1 g/mL. Since specific gravity is a ratio, so it has no
units. An object will float in water if its density is less than the density of water
and sink if its density is greater than that of water. Similarly, an object with
specific gravity less than 1 will float and those with a specific gravity greater
than one will sink. Specific gravity values for a few common substances are: Au,
19.3; mercury, 13.6; alcohol, 0.7893; benzene, 0.8786. Note that since water has
a density of 1 g/cm3, the specific gravity is the same as the density of the
material measured in g/cm3.

Types of Microscopes

Microscopes fall into basically three categories: compound, electron and

confocal. Four of the several types within these categories of microscopes are
the compound, digital, electron and stereo microscopes.
Compound microscopes are the most common and the kind you are most
likely to see in a science classroom.
A digital microscope has a camera device attached to it called a CCD that is
connected to a computer. These microscopes do not have eyepiece viewing
ports.
An electron microscope has the highest image magnification.
A stereo microscope uses two eyepieces that are set at slightly different
angles, giving the viewer a 3D picture of the object being looked at.

Different Uses of Microscopes

Microscopes can be found in laboratories all over the world. What is being
studied and how much resolution is needed to define the object of concern
dictates which type of microscope is used.
If you just wanted to look at a leaf under lower magnification, a compound
microscope would be appropriate. They magnify images up to 1,500 times.
However, looking at atoms and cell parts requires a much more powerful
electron microscope able to magnify the image up to two million times its
original size.
Smallest Object Ever Seen with a Microscope

Electron microscope

The smallest object ever seen was a radium atom using an electron
microscope, but the picture was fuzzy looking.

The microscope has "extended our vision into the realm of sub-cellular
organelles, viruses, proteins, DNA, molecules and even atoms," says
Interactive Nano-Visualization in Science and Engineering Education's Size
and Scale website.
As these tools of science advance, our ability to see smaller and smaller
objects may bring us closer to discovering the essence of life.
Other Types of Microscopes

Microscopic view of cells

Some of the new microscope designs, including more advanced electron,

scanning probe, field ion and acoustic microscopes, use various imaging
methods to illuminate the details of the objects being studied.

The compound microscope uses lenses and light to enlarge the image
and isalso called an optical or light microscope
.
The simplest optical microscope is themagnifying glass and is good to
about ten times (10X) magnification. Thecompound microscope
has two systems of lenses for greater magnification, theocular, or
eyepiece lens that one looks into and the objective lens, or the
lensclosest to the object.
Parts and Functions of Compound Microscope
1.
Eyepiece and Ocular lens
- the lens at the top that you look through. They are usually 10X or 15X
power.
2. Draw tube
-carries the eyepiece, for support
.3. Body tube
-it holds the objective power. It connects the eyepiece to the objective
lenses
OPTICAL PARTS:Objective Lenses
: Usually you will find 3 or 4 objective lenses on amicroscope. They
almost always consist of 4X, 10X, 40X and 100X powers.When coupled
with a 10X (most common) eyepiece lens, we get totalmagnifications
of 40X (4X times 10X), 100X, 400X and 1000X. To have goodresolution
at 1000X, you will need a relatively sophisticated microscope with
an*Abbe condenser. The shortest lens is the lowest power; the longest
one is thelens with the greatest power. Lenses are color coded and if
built to DINstandards are interchangeable between microscopes. The
high power objectivelenses are retractable (i.e. 40XR). This means that
if they hit a slide, the end of the lens will push in (spring loaded)
thereby protecting the lens and the slide. Allquality microscopes have
achromatic, parcentered, parfocal lenses.
*Abbe condenser is mounted below the stage of the microscope, and
concentrates andcontrols the light that passes through the specimen
and enters the objective. It has twocontrols, one which moves the

Abbe condenser closer to or further from the stage, andanother, theiris

diaphragm,which controls the diameter of the beam of light.
Thecontrols can be used to optimize brightness, evenness of
illumination, and contrast.Abbe condensers are particularly important
for magnifications of above 400X.
Condenser Lens
: The purpose of the condenser lens is to focus the light ontothe
specimen. Condenser lenses are most useful at the highest powers
(400Xand above). Microscopes with in stage condenser lenses render a
sharper image than those with no lens (at 400X). If your microscope
has a maximumpower of 400X, you will get the maximum benefit by
using a condenser lensesrated at 0.65 NA or greater. 0.65 NA
condenser lenses may be mounted in thestage and work quite well. A
big advantage to a stage mounted lens is that thereis one less focusing
item to deal with. If you go to 1000X then you should have a