LESSON 1: MICROSCOPE

I. INTRODUCTION
"Micro" refers to tiny, "scope" refers to view or look at. Microscopes are used to make
more detailed observations and measurements of objects too small for the naked eye.
(Total magnification of any image you see through the ocular lens is the product of
the objective and ocular lens magnifications)
1. Microscope structures

1.1. The optical elements include:

OCULAR LENS (EYEPIECE); OBJECTIVE LENS; LAMP

- OCULAR LENS (eyepiece) – The microscope will have either one
(monocular) or two (binocular) ocular lenses. These are the lenses you will look
through when examining a specimen with the microscope.
- OBJECTIVE LENSES –These lenses allow you to change the degree of
magnification. The degree of magnification for each objective lens is indicated on its
side.

4X – This objective magnifies the image by a factor of 4.

10X – This objective magnifies the image by a factor of 10
40X – This objective magnifies the image by a factor of 40
100X – This objective magnifies the image by a factor of 100. It is referred to as the
“oil immersion objective” since it requires a drop of immersion oil on the slide to
provide good resolution.
1.2. Mechanical parts:

COARSE FOCUS; FINE FOCUS KNOBS ; MECHANICAL STAGE KNOBS ;

STAGE; STAGE CLIP; BASE; ARM ; DIAPHRAGM ; CONDENSER LENS
2. Proper Use of Microscope
To protect the microscope and the specimen, be careful when using glass, screw
must slowly, slightly, gentle and proceed in the following order:

water or oil on TOP OF COVERSLIP

est to longest
objective lenses

Requirements: Students need patience during the time using microsope!

3. Preparing slide

1) Collect all your apparatus (carrying the microscope carefully).

2) Lay the sample on the microscope slide in a single flat layer.
3) Place a very small drop of water/iodine/ lugol/... on to the sample.
4) Carefully lower a cover slip on top of the sample (make sure there are no air
bubbles).
5) Place the slide on the stage of the microscope.
6) Make sure the lowest objective lens is over the specimen.
7) Carefully use the course focusing knob to lower the objective lens to just above
the slide
8) Look through the eye piece and carefully use the fine focusing knob to focus the
image.
9) Draw what you see through the microscope.
II. EXPERIMENTS
1. Plant cells
- Use a blade to cut off outer cells (few pieces) of an onion bulb and submerge in water
(about 1 min).
- Put each onion piece onto a water drop on a lame, then cover a lamelle on the sample
and observe via microscope with objective lenses of 10x and 40x.
- Remove gently water on the lame using paper tissue. Put 2 drops of NaCl 8% on the
sample. After 5-10 mins, repeat the observation and take note the change.
2. Yeast cells
Put one drop of baker yeast culture on a lame. Cover a lamelle on the sample and
observe via microscope with objective lenses of 10x and 40x.
3. Animal cells
- Obtain mucous membrane cells in human mouth via a clean toothpick and put the
sample on a drop of Lugol solution on a lame. Cover a lamelle on the sample and
observe via microscope with objective lenses of 10x and 40x.

REPORT
1. Draw a microscope and explain functions of its main parts.
2. Describe each type of cell and phenomenon observed during the experiments.