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Reading The Vernier Scale On The Travelling Microscope

The document provides instructions for reading a vernier scale on a travelling microscope. It explains that the vernier scale allows for more precise measurements than the upper scale alone by showing where the two scales are perfectly aligned. The reader is guided to first identify where the zero point of the upper scale lies on the lower scale to get the whole number measurement. Then by examining the magnified vernier scale, the fraction of a millimeter measurement is identified by the best alignment point between the two scales. This fractional value is then added to the whole number measurement determined earlier to give the full reading from the vernier scale.

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Dhruv Borda
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632 views2 pages

Reading The Vernier Scale On The Travelling Microscope

The document provides instructions for reading a vernier scale on a travelling microscope. It explains that the vernier scale allows for more precise measurements than the upper scale alone by showing where the two scales are perfectly aligned. The reader is guided to first identify where the zero point of the upper scale lies on the lower scale to get the whole number measurement. Then by examining the magnified vernier scale, the fraction of a millimeter measurement is identified by the best alignment point between the two scales. This fractional value is then added to the whole number measurement determined earlier to give the full reading from the vernier scale.

Uploaded by

Dhruv Borda
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Reading the Vernier Scale on the Travelling Microscope

Reading the Vernier scale on the travelling microscope often causes problems. This is a quick
guide to make life easier.

Once the microscope is set up in a stable position, the object you are measuring must be
carefully focussed and then the fine adjusters used to centre the crosshairs in the eyepiece
on the object.

Now, swing the small magnifier over the vernier scale for a closer look. You will need good
illumination to be able to read the scale easily.

First, find out where the zero on the upper scale is lying on the lower scale. In this picture it
is lying somewhere between 6.00 and 6.05 cm. Just by estimating from this we can see that
the measurement is going to be somewhere around 6.02 cm.

Now move the magnifier along the scale until you find the point at which the lines on both
scales are perfectly aligned. There will always be a little bit of uncertainty here but looking
at the magnified view (below) it seems that the best alignment is at 0.22 mm. You choose
0.22 mm rather than 0.72 mm because we’ve already determined that the value lies between
6.00 and 6.05 cm. This often causes confusion because the lower scale is marked in cm whilst
the upper one is in mm.

So, the final value given by this scale reading is 6.00 cm (from the first reading) plus 0.22
mm (from the second reading) which gives 6.022 cm.
In the next example (taken after moving the crosshairs to the next measuring point), the
zero on the top scale is between 6.05 cm and 6.10 cm.

And looking closer, the best alignment is at 0.64 mm. Again, we choose 0.64 rather than 0.14
because we’ve already determined that the value lies between 6.05 and 6.10 cm.

Thus the final value is given by 6.00 cm plus 0.64 mm giving an answer of 6.064 cm.

NB. You may well come across some vernier scales which just have values from 0 to 0.5 on
the upper scale. In this case you have to think a bit harder, so if (as in this case) the zero
point on the scale lies between 6.05 and 6.10, you arrive at the final answer by adding 6.05
cm to 0.14 mm, which still gives 6.064 cm as the answer.

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