MICROSCOPES

• Magnifies objects (makes objects

look bigger)
• Help scientists study objects & living
things too small to see with the naked
eye
 Ocular lens
(Eyepiece)
Body Tube

Nosepiece
Arm
Objectives

Stage
Stage Clips
Coarse Adjustment
Diaphragm
Fine Adjustment
Light

Base
Always carry a microscope with one hand
holding the arm and one hand under the base.
 3 Types of Microscopes
• simple microscope has only 1 lens.
• compound microscope has 2 sets of
lenses. It can magnify things 100 -
200 times larger than they really are.
• electron microscope can magnify
objects up to 300,000 times. They
do not use lenses, but use electrons
to enlarge the image.
 PARTS OF A MICROSCOPE
1. ocular (lens) eyepiece
• the lens of the microscope that you
look through
2. coarse adjustment
• the large knob on the microscope
that moves the body tube up or
down to bring the object into focus
3. fine adjustment
• the small knob on the microscope
that brings the image into sharp
focus
 PARTS OF A MICROSCOPE

4. arm
• the part of the microscope
supporting the body tube
5. body tube
• the part that holds the eyepiece and
the objective lenses.
6. nosepiece
• the part at the bottom of the body
tube that holds the objective lenses
and allows them to be turned
7. high power objective lens
• the lens that magnifies the object
the greatest amount. (usually 40x)
8. Low power (scanner) objective lens
• the lens that magnifies the object
the least amount (usually used to find
the object; magnifies only 3x or 4x)

9. middle power objective lens

• the lens that usually magnifies the
object more than the scanner lens,
but less than the high power lens
(usually 10x to 20x)
10. stage
• the flat part below the
objectives lens where the slide
is placed
11. clip
• the part that holds the slide in
place so it doesn’t move
12. diaphragm
• the part that controls the
amount of light entering the
field of view
13. light source
• the lamp (or mirror) under the
stage that sends light through
the object being viewed.
14. base
• the bottom part that supports
the rest of the microscope
 Ocular lens
(Eyepiece)
Body Tube

Nosepiece
Arm
Objectives

Stage
Stage Clips
Coarse Adjustment
Diaphragm
Fine Adjustment
Light

Base
Always carry a microscope with one hand
holding the arm and one hand under the base.
Comparing Powers of Magnification

We can see better details with higher the

powers of magnification, but we cannot see
as much of the image.

Which of these images

would be viewed at a
higher power of
magnification?
What’s my power?
To calculate the power of magnification, multiply the power of the
ocular lens by the power of the objective.
 Appearance of the Specimen
• Objects appear upside-down &
backward

• Movement appears to be in opposite

direction than actual movement 1
2

move slide
slide appears to move
2 1
 Making a Wet Mount Slide
1. Use dropper to place a drop of
water on the center of a clean slide.
2. Use tweezers to lay specimen on
the drop of water.

3. Gently touch the cover slip to the

edge of the drop of water to cover
the specimen & the water.
How to make a wet-mount slide …
1 – Get a clean slide and coverslip from your teacher.
2 – Place ONE drop of water in the middle of the slide. Don’t use
too much or the water will run off the edge and make a mess!
3 – Place the edge of the cover slip on one side of the water drop.
4 - Slowly lower the cover slip on top of the drop.
Cover Lower slowly
Slip

5 – Place the slide on the stage and view it first with the red-banded
objective. Once you see the image, you can rotate the nosepiece to
view the slide with the different objectives.
You do not need to use the stage clips
when viewing wet-mount slides!