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Parts of The Compound Microscope

The document summarizes the main structural parts of a compound microscope. It describes the head, base, and arm, which make up the microscope's frame. It then explains the optical components, including the eyepiece, objective lenses, stage, illuminator, and condenser, which work together to magnify and provide clear images of specimens. Adjustment knobs and other components help control light intensity and focus.

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Dainah Articulo
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134 views

Parts of The Compound Microscope

The document summarizes the main structural parts of a compound microscope. It describes the head, base, and arm, which make up the microscope's frame. It then explains the optical components, including the eyepiece, objective lenses, stage, illuminator, and condenser, which work together to magnify and provide clear images of specimens. Adjustment knobs and other components help control light intensity and focus.

Uploaded by

Dainah Articulo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Parts of the

Compound Microscope
There are three structural parts of the
microscope i.e. head, base, and arm.
• Head or Body– This is also known as the body, it carries the optical
parts in the upper part of the microscope.
• Base – It acts as microscopes support. It also carriers the microscopic
illuminators.
• 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 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.
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:
• 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 – 30X.
• Eyepiece tube – its 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.
• 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. LPO(low power Objective) HPO High power
objective, Oil Immersion Objective (OIO)
• 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.
• 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 the coarse adjustment knobs.
• Stage – This is the section on which the specimen is placed for
viewing. They have stage clips hold the specimen slides in place. The
most common stage is a mechanical stage, which allows the control of
the slides by moving the slides using the mechanical knobs on the
stage instead of moving it manually.
• Aperture – This is a hole on the microscope stage, through which the
transmitted light from the source reaches the stage.
• 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.
• 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.
• Diaphragm – its 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. Its 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.
• Condenser focus knob – this is a knob that moves the condenser up
or down thus controlling the focus of light on the specimen.
• 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 hit the objective lens.

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