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Microscope

Microscopes are instruments used to magnify very small objects like cells and microorganisms. They contain lenses that magnify specimens according to their focal strength. Microscopes have three main parts - the head carries the optical parts, the base acts as support and carries illuminators, and the arm connects the head and base. Optical parts include eyepieces to view specimens, objective lenses that magnify from 40-100x, and a nosepiece that holds objective lenses. Specimens are placed on a stage under a condenser that focuses light, while adjustment knobs focus the microscope.

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Jannette Jane David
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98 views3 pages

Microscope

Microscopes are instruments used to magnify very small objects like cells and microorganisms. They contain lenses that magnify specimens according to their focal strength. Microscopes have three main parts - the head carries the optical parts, the base acts as support and carries illuminators, and the arm connects the head and base. Optical parts include eyepieces to view specimens, objective lenses that magnify from 40-100x, and a nosepiece that holds objective lenses. Specimens are placed on a stage under a condenser that focuses light, while adjustment knobs focus the microscope.

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Jannette Jane David
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Microscopes - are instruments that are used in science laboratories 

to visualize very minute


objects such as cells, and microorganisms, giving a contrasting image that is magnified.

- are made up of lenses for magnification, each with its own magnification powers. Depending
on the type of lens, it will magnify the specimen according to its focal strength.

Figure: Diagram of parts of a microscope


There are three structural parts of the microscope i.e. head, base, and arm.
1. Head – This is also known as the body. It carries the optical parts in the upper part of the
microscope.
2. Base – It acts as microscopes support. It also carries microscopic illuminators.
3. Arms – This is the part connecting the base and to the head and the eyepiece tube to the base
of the microscope. It gives support to the head of the microscope and it is also used when
carrying the microscope. Some high-quality microscopes have an articulated arm with more
than one joint allowing more movement of the microscopic head for better viewing.
Optical parts of a microscope and their functions
The optical parts of the microscope are used to view, magnify, and produce an image from a
specimen placed on a slide. These parts include:
1. Eyepiece – also known as the ocular. This is the part used to look through the microscope. Its
found at the top of the microscope. Its standard magnification is 10x with an optional eyepiece
having magnifications from 5X to 30X.
2. Eyepiece tube – it’s the eyepiece holder. It carries the eyepiece just above the objective lens.
In some microscopes such as the binoculars, the eyepiece tube is flexible and can be rotated for
maximum visualization, for variance in distance. For monocular microscopes, they are none
flexible.
3. Objective lenses – These are the major lenses used for specimen visualization. They have a
magnification power of 40x-100X. There are about 1- 4 objective lenses placed on one
microscope, in that some are rare facing and others face forward.  Each lens has its own
magnification power.
4. Nose piece – also known as the revolving turret. It holds the objective lenses. It is
movable hence it cal revolve the objective lenses depending on the magnification power
of the lens.
5. The Adjustment knobs – These are knobs that are used to focus the microscope. There
are two types of adjustment knobs i.e fine adjustment knobs and coarse adjustment
knobs.
6. Stage – This is the section in which the specimen is placed for viewing. They have stage
clips that hold the specimen slides in place. The most common stage is the mechanical
stage, which allows the control of the slides by moving the slides using the mechanical
knobs on the stage instead of moving them manually.
7. Aperture – This is a hole on the microscope stage, through which the transmitted light
from the source reaches the stage.
8. Microscopic illuminator – This is the microscopes light source, located at the base. It is
used instead of a mirror. It captures light from an external source of a low voltage of
about 100v.
9. Condenser – These are lenses that are used to collect and focus light from the illuminator
into the specimen. They are found under the stage next to the diaphragm of the
microscope. They play a major role in ensuring clear sharp images are produced with a
high magnification of 400X and above. The higher the magnification of the condenser,
the more the image clarity. More sophisticated microscopes come with an Abbe
condenser that has a high magnification of about 1000X.
10. Diaphragm – it’s also known as the iris. Its found under the stage of the microscope and
its primary role is to control the amount of light that reaches the specimen. It’s an
adjustable apparatus, hence controlling the light intensity and the size of the beam of light
that gets to the specimen. For high-quality microscopes, the diaphragm comes attached
with an Abbe condenser and combined they are able to control the light focus and light
intensity that reaches the specimen.
11. Condenser focus knob – this is a knob that moves the condenser up or down thus
controlling the focus of light on the specimen.
12. Abbe Condenser – this is a condenser specially designed for high-quality microscopes,
which makes the condenser to be movable and allows very high magnification of above
400X. High-quality microscopes normally have a high numerical aperture than objective
lenses.
13. The rack stop – It controls how far the stages should go preventing the objective lens
from getting too close to the specimen slide which may damage the specimen. It is
responsible for preventing the specimen slide from coming too far up and hitting the
objective lens.

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