THE

MICROSCOPE
It is an optical instrument that
magnifies objects that are too
small to be seen by the naked
eye.
Parts of a microscope
Microscope Terms:

■ Field of View = the size of the area that can be

seen (size decreases with an increase in
magnification)
■ Magnification = ability of the lenses to enlarge
the image of the specimen (the more powerful the
lens, the larger the image)
 Total
Ocular Lens Objective Lens
Magnification
10x 4x (low power) 40x
10x (medium
10x 100x
power)
10x 40x (high power) 400x
Resolution = ability of microscope to distinguish
detail (the higher the quality of the lens, the
clearer the image is)

Wet mount = a slide prepared by using water to

mount the sample
Types of microscopes

■ Simple Light Microscope

– Hand-held early microscope, used by
Leeuwenhoek (17th)
■ Compound Light Microscope
– Most commonly used today, image seen in 2-D
– Can see individual cells (magnification = 2000x)
Types of microscopes

■ Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)

– Uses beam of e- to view 2-D images
– Can only view dead cells (magnification = 5
000 000x)
■ Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
- Uses beam of e- to produce black and white
images in 3- D
- Shows contrast and depth (magnification =
300 000x)