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Microscopes

A microscope is a high precision optical instrument used to magnify small specimens that cannot be seen by the naked eye. The history of microscopes includes early developments by Zaccharias and Hans Janssen, improvements by Galileo, and significant contributions from Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who is known for discovering microorganisms. There are various types of microscopes, including compound light microscopes and electron microscopes, each with specific uses and capabilities.

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10 views20 pages

Microscopes

A microscope is a high precision optical instrument used to magnify small specimens that cannot be seen by the naked eye. The history of microscopes includes early developments by Zaccharias and Hans Janssen, improvements by Galileo, and significant contributions from Anton van Leeuwenhoek, who is known for discovering microorganisms. There are various types of microscopes, including compound light microscopes and electron microscopes, each with specific uses and capabilities.

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MICROSCOPES

• What is a microscope ?
• “micro” - from Greek meaning small “scope”
– from Greek meaning to look or see
• A microscope is a high precision optical
instrument that uses a lens or a combination
of lenses to produce highly magnified images
of small specimens or objects especially when
they are too small to be seen by the naked
(unaided) eye.
• Medical History
• About 1590 two Dutch spectacle makers, Zaccharias
Janssen and his son Hans, experimented with a crude
concept of a microscope that enlarged objects 10x to 30x
or so.
• In 1609, Galileo (an Italian) improved on the principle of
lenses and added a focusing device to improve somewhat
upon what the Janssen’s had done.
• A Dutchman, Anton van Leeuwenhoek, is considered the
father of microscopes because of the advances he made in
microscope design and use.
• He worked as an apprentice in a dry goods
store where magnifying lenses were used to
count the threads in cloth.
• Anton was inspired by these glasses and he
taught himself new methods for grinding and
polishing small lenses which magnified up to
270x.
• This led to the first practical microscopes.
• In 1674, Anton was the first to see and describe
bacteria, yeast, plants, and life in a drop of water.
• Robert Hooke.
• The English father of microscopy,
• Re-confirmed Anton van Leeuwenhoek's
discoveries of the existence of tiny living
organisms in a drop of water.
• Made a copy of Leeuwenhoek's light microscope
and then improved it.
• Types of microscopes.
• 1. Compound Light Microscope.
• 2. Electron Microscope
• 3. Fluorsence microscopy
. Fluorsence microscopy
-uses dyes to be used as labels which illuminate
in the presence of light
• Compound Microscope
• This is the most common type of microscope. It
can also be referred to as a biological or
research microscope.
• The compound microscope is what many refer
to as a high power microscope.
• It is used to view smaller specimens such as cell
structures which cannot be seen at lower levels
of magnification.
Compound microscope
• Parts of a compound light microscope.
• Eyepiece: contains the ocular lens, which provides a
magnification power of 10x to 15x, usually look through
here.
• Nosepiece: holds the objective lenses, rotated easily to
change magnification.
• Objective lenses:
• Usually, three or four objective lenses on a microscope,
consisting of 4x, 10x, 40x and 100x magnification powers.
• Total magnification of an image, multiply the eyepiece lens
power by the objective lens power.
Specific objectives
• At the end of the lecture/discussion students
should be able to ;
• Define a microscope
• Outline the History of microscopes
• State the types of microscopes
• Stage clips: Hold the glass slide in place.
• Stage: A flat platform supporting the slide
being analyzed.
• Diaphragm: Controls the intensity and size of
the cone light projected on the specimen.
7. Light source: Projects light upwards through the
diaphragm, slide and lenses.
9. Base: Supports the microscope.
10. Condenser lens: Helps to focus the light onto the
sample analyzed.
11. Arm: Supports the microscope when carried.
12. Coarse adjustment knob: When turned, the stage
moves up or down, in order to coarse adjust the
focus.
13. Fine adjustment knob: Used to fine adjust the
focus.
What can be viewed.
1. Stained Prepared slides (bacteria, fungi,
parasites, blood cells, tissue sections,
chemicals-crystals, body fluids).
2. Unstained wet mounts : body fluids
(blood, aspirate), parasites.
Electron microscope.
it is a microscope with high magnification and
resolution,employing electron beams in place of
light and using electron lenses
• Utilises beam of electrons to create an image of
the specimen.
• Capable of much higher magnifications and has a
greater resolving power than a light microscope
• Much smaller objects seen in finer detail.
• Needed to view molecules and atoms as well as
viruses.
Electron microscope
• There are two types of electron microscopes
• The Transmission EM (TEM)
• Scanning EM (SEM)
• The transmission electron microscope is used
to view thin specimens (tissues
sections,molecules etc.
• Through which electrons can pass generating
a projection image.
• Scanning electron microscope
• This is a type of electron microscope that
produces images of a sample by scanning the
surface with a focused beam of electrons.
• It scans a focused electron beam over a surface
to create an image .
• The electrons in the beam interact with the
sample producing various signals that can be
used to obtain information.
END OF LECTURE

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