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Microscope and Its Parts

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43 views4 pages

Microscope and Its Parts

Uploaded by

redkillerbunnies
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 PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What are microscopes?

Microscopes are instruments that are used in science laboratories, to visualize very
minute objects such as cells, microorganisms, giving a contrasting image, that is magnified.
Microscopes are made up of lenses for magnification, each with their own magnification powers.
Depending on the type of lens, it will magnify the specimen according to its focal strength.

Structural parts of a microscope and their functions


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 carriers the 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 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. It’s found at the top of the microscope. Its standard magnification is 10x
with an optional eyepiece having magnifications from 5X – 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.
• Scanning Objective Lens (4x)
• Low Power Objective (10x)
• High Power Objective Lens (40x)
• Oil Immersion Objective Lens (100x)
• Specialty Objective Lenses (2x, 50x Oil, 60x and 100x Dry)
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 the coarse adjustment
knobs.
Coarse adjustment knob- Focuses the image under low power (usually the
bigger knob)
Fine adjustment Knob-Sharpens the image under all powers (usually the
smaller knob)
6. 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.
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. It’s 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 on high-quality microscopes,
which makes the condenser to be movable and allows very high magnification of above
400X. The high-quality microscopes normally have a high numerical aperture than that
of the objective lenses.
13. The rack stops – 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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