MICROBIOLOGY AND PARASITOLOGY

VIEWING THE MICROBIAL WORLD

TOPIC OUTLINE
1 METRIC SYSTEM
2 MICROSCOPES
3 PARTS OF THE COMPOUND MICROSCOPE
4 TYPES OF MICROSCOPES

METRIC SYSTEM

METRIC UNITS
➢ primarily micrometers and nanometers
➢ used to express the sizes of microbes
➢ 1 m = 39.4 inches or 3.4 longer than a
yard
➢ the sizes of bacteria are expressed in
micrometers
➢ the sizes of viruses are expressed in
nanometers.

UNIT OF MEASUREMENT
DECIMETERS 10 (10^1) equally spaced units
CENTIMETERS 100 (10^2) equally spaced
units
MILLIMETERS 1,000 (10^3) equally spaced
units
MICROMETERS 1 million (10^6) equally PARTS OF THE COMPOUND MICROSCOPE
spaced units
previously known as micron
(µ)𝑎
NANOMETERS 1 billion (10^9) equally spaced
units
previously known as
millimicron (mµ)
ANGSTROM 0.1 nanometer (0.1 nm)
(Å)
HUMAN RBC about 7 µm in diameter
OCULAR used to measure the
MICROMETER dimensions of objects being
viewed with a compound light
microscope.

MICROSCOPES

➢ an optical instrument that is used to

observe tiny objects, often objects that
cannot be seen at all with the unaided
human eye (the “naked eye”)

DRGB 1
MICROBIOLOGY AND PARASITOLOGY
TYPES OF MICROSCOPES
TYPES OF MICROSCOPES
1 SIMPLE MICROSCOPES
2 COMPOUND MICROSCOPES
3 ELECTRON MICROSCOPES
4 ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPES
SIMPLE MICROSCOPES
➢ a microscope containing only one
magnifying lens
➢ magnifying glass could be considered a
simple microscope
➢ Images seen when using a magnifying
glass usually appear about 3 to 20 times
larger than the object’s actual size
➢ 1600s : Anton van Leeuwenhoek used
simple microscopes to observe many tiny
objects, including bacteria and protozoa
COMPOUND MICROSCOPES
➢ “compound light microscope“
➢ a microscope that contains more than
one magnifying lens
➢ Hans Jansen and his son Zacharias
➢ Total magnification of the compound light
microscope : calculated by multiplying
the magnifying power of the ocular lens
by the magnifying power of the objective
being used.
➢ The resolving power or resolution of an
optical instrument is its ability to
distinguish between two adjacent objects.
➢ The resolving power of the unaided
human eye is 0.2 mm.
➢ When using a brightfield microscope, a
person observes objects against a bright
background.
➢ When using a darkfield microscope, a
person observes illuminated objects
against a dark background.
ELECTRON MICROSCOPES
➢ use an electron beam as a source of
illumination and magnets to focus the
beam
TYPES OF ELECTRON MICROSCOPES
1 TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPES
2 SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPES
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPES
➢ has a very tall column, at the top of which
an electron gun fires a beam of electrons
downward
➢ The resolving power of a transmission
electron microscope is approximately 0.2
nm, which is about one million times
better than the resolving power of the
unaided human eye and 1,000 times
better than the resolving power of the
compound light microscope.
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPES
➢ has a shorter column and instead of being
placed into the electron beam, the
specimen is placed at the bottom of the
column
➢ Scanning electron microscopes have a
resolving power of about 20 nm—about
100 times less than the resolving power of
transmission electron microscopes.
DRGB 2
MICROBIOLOGY AND PARASITOLOGY
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPES
➢ enables scientists to observe living cells at
extremely high magnification and
resolution under physiological conditions.
➢ Using AFM, it is possible to observe single
live cells in aqueous solutions where
dynamic physiological processes can be
observed in real time

DRGB 3