(MICROPARA) LESSON 2

Using the Metric System to Express the Sizes Different Kinds of Microscope
of Microbes
- Simple Microscope
- Metric System o Contains only one magnifying lens
o The basic unit of length is the o Images appear 3 to 20 times larger
meter (m) than the objects actual size
▪ Equivalent to 39.6 inches o Leeuwenhoek’s simple
- Metric Units microscope
o Used to express the sizes of ▪ Magnifying power: 300
microbes times
- Micrometer (μm)
o One millionth of a meter - Compound Microscopes
o Bacteria and Protozoa are usually o More than one magnifying lens
expressed in this terms o Also referred to as Compound
- A typical spherical bacterium (coccus) is Light Microscope
approximately 1 μm in diameter. ▪ Because visible light is the
- A typical rod-shaped bacterium (bacillus) source of illumination
is approximately 1 μm wide x 3 μm long. o Magnify objects about 1,000 times
- Nanometer o Resolving power
o Equal to one billionth of a meter ▪ 0.2 μm
- Most of the viruses that cause human • 1,000 times better
diseases range from 10 to 300 nm than the resolving
o Except Ebola Virus power of the
▪ Cause of viral hemorrhagic unaided human eye.
fever o Total magnification is calculated
▪ Can be as long as 1,000 nm by multiplying the magnifying
(1 μm) power of the ocular lens by the
- When using a microscope, the sizes of magnifying power of the objective
microorganisms are measured using an lens being used. (x10 ocular)
ocular micrometer. ▪ Scanner
• Red
Microscopes • x4 objective
• x40 total
- Optical instrument that is used to observe magnification
tiny objects. ▪ Low Power Objective (LPO)
o Objects so small that they cannot • Yellow
be seen with the unaided eye. • x10 objective
- Resolving Power/ Resolution of the
• x100 total
Instrument
magnification
o A limit to what can be seen using
▪ High Power Objective (HPO)
microscope
• Blue
o Unaided human eye
• x40 objective
▪ Approximately 0.2 nm
• x400 total
- Magnification
magnification
o The ability of the microscope to
▪ Oil Immersion Objective
enlarge an object
(OIO)
- Resolution
• White
o Aka resolving power
• x100 objective
o Ability to differentiate/identify the
parts of the image that we are • x1,000 total
identifying magnification
 o Photomicrographs o Living organisms cannot be
▪ Photographs taken through observed because the processing
the lens of the compound procedures kill the organisms
microscope o Electron Beam
o Other types of compound ▪ Used as the source of
microscope illumination
▪ Phase-contrast ▪ Magnets are used to focus
▪ Fluorescence the beam
o Have a much higher resolving
power than compound
o Wavelength of Visible light
microscopes
▪ ~ 0.45 μm
o Two types of electron microscope:
▪ Limits the size of objects
▪ Transmission
that can be seen
▪ Scanning
▪ Objects cannot be seen if
o Transmission and scanning
they are smaller than half of
electron micrographs are black
the wavelength of visible
and white images.
light
o Two magnifying lens systems:
▪ Eyepiece or ocular lens
- Transmission Electron Microscope
• Usually x10
o Uses an electron gun to fire a
▪ Objective lens
beam of electrons through an
• x4, x10, x40, and
extremely think specimen ( <1 μm
x100 are the four
thick)
most commonly
o Image of the specimen is
used objective
produced on a phosphor-coated
lenses
screen.
o Magnification
- Phase-Contrast Microscope
▪ 1,000 times greater than
o Used to observe unstained living
compound light
microorganisms
microscope
o Organisms are more easily seen
o Resolving Power
▪ The light refracted by living
▪ ~0.2 nm
cells is different from the
lights refracted by
- Scanning Electron Microscope
surrounding medium.
o Electrons are bounced off the
surface of a specimen and the
- Fluorescence Microscope
image appears on the monitor.
o Contain a built-in ultraviolet (UV)
o Used to observe the outer surfaces
light source
of specimens.
o When the UV light strikes certain
o Resolving power:
dyes and pigments, these
▪ 100 times less than
substances emit a longer-
Transmission Electron
wavelength light, causing them to
Microscope
glow against a background.
- Atomic Force Microscope
o Used to observe atomic molecules
- Electron Microscope
o Enable us to see extremely small
microbes
▪ Ex: Rabies and smallpox
viruses