Micro-basics

 

Microscope Information.


Basics

Basically what a microscope does is to blend light to

create a photographical relief of the cells you are viewing and

in general, if the cells are small,opaque,and nonflourescent, this is probably

the way you want to view them.

Parts

A basic microscope has 13 parts as follows: eyepiece, draw tube, body tube,

revolving nose piece,1-3 objectives, stage, condenser, substage, mirror, base, coarse

adjustment knob, fine adjustment knob, arm, and inclination joint.

Kinds

There are two kinds of microscopes, the compound and the simple

microscope.The compound gives greater magnification and greater resolution

than the simple microscope.

Magnification

The magnification power of a compound microscope is the product of the

magnifying powers of the eyepiece and the objectives.

Theory

The theory of the microscope was first systematically studied by a

German physist Ernest Abbe in the 19th century. Abbe showed that the

resolution (the minimum distance between two points) may be expressed

by the formula, R=^ an.sin a

 

Objectives

There are three main objectives, classified as to the degree of excellence

of their corrections for the optical errors known as chromatic and spherical

abberation. Chromatic abberation is the phenomenon in which light waves

of different wave lengths are brought to focus at different points along the

optical axis.

 

Glass Quality

Objectives are made with fluorites or other additives in the glass to improve

color corrections to the point that residual color is almost abolished.

by:

Anthony Harrington

 

Sources:

Collers Encyclopedia Vol.16

Jenkeu Fu