ANATOMY AND

PHYSIOLOGY
COMPOUND LIGHT
PARTS AND ITS FUNCTION:
MICROSCOPE
 Eyepiece (ocular lens) with or without Pointer:
The part that is looked through at the top of the
compound microscope. Eyepieces typically have
a magnification between 5x & 30x.
 Monocular or Binocular Head: Structural
support that holds & connects the eyepieces to
the objective lenses.
 Arm: Supports the microscope head and attaches
it to the base.
 Nosepiece: Holds the objective lenses & attaches
them to the microscope head. This part rotates to
change which objective lens is active.
 Base: Bottom base of the microscope that houses
the illumination & supports the compound
 Objective lenses: A compound microscope microscope.
 Coarse and fine adjustment controls:
typically has 3-5 optical lens objectives Adjusts the focus of the microscope.
with varying magnification levels (4x, 10x, These knobs increase or decrease the
40x, 100x). The total magnification is level of detail seen when looking at the
calculated by multiplying the objective lens slide or specimen through the eyepiece of
magnification by the eyepiece the compound microscope.
magnification level.  Stage height adjustment: Adjusts the
 Specimen or slide: The object used to hold position of the mechanical stage
the specimen in place along with slide vertically & horizontally. It is important
covers for viewing. Most slides & slide to adjust these knobs so that the objective
covers are thin glass rectangles. lens is never coming into contact with the
 Stage or Platform: The platform upon slide or specimen on the stage.
which the specimen or slide are placed. The  Mirror: Reflects light into the base of
height of the mechanical stage is adjustable the microscope. Earlier microscopes used
on most compound microscopes. mirrors that reflected light into the base
 Stage clips or mechanical stage: Clips on of the microscope instead of halogen
the stage that hold the slide in place on the bulbs as their source of illumination.
mechanical stage.  Illumination: Light used to illuminate
 Aperture - Disc or Iris Diaphragm: the slide or specimen from the base of
Circular opening in the stage where the the microscope. Low voltage halogen
illumination from the base of the bulbs are the most commonly used
compound microscope reaches the platform source of illumination for compound
of the stage. microscopes.
 Abbe Condenser: The lens in a compound  Bottom Lens or Field Diaphragm:
microscope condenses light from the base Knob used to adjust the amount of light
illumination, focusing it onto the stage, that reaches the specimen or slide from
serving as a structural support connecting the base illumination
the stage to the microscope's frame.
What is Compound
A compound light microscope is a microscope
with more than one lens and its own light source.
In this type of microscope, there are ocular
Light Microscope? lenses in the binocular eyepieces and objective
lenses in a rotating nosepiece closer to the
specimen. Also considered a bright field

What can be
Using Stained Prepared slides you should see:
 bacteria,
 chromosomes

viewed?
 organelles
 protists or metazoans
 smears
 blood
 negative stained bacteria
 thick tissue sections
Distortion is a factor in
Utilizing unstained wet mounts for living
viewing smaller specimens and
preparations should enable you to see:
the difficulty increases further
 pond water
without natural pigmentation to
 living protists or metazoans, and provide some contrast when
 plant cells such as algae. viewing the specimen.

VIEWING HEADS An electron microscope is

1. Monocular - only use one eyepiece when viewing needed to view molecules and
the specimen. You are restricted if you want to use a atoms as well as viruses. Light
CCD (charge-coupled device) camera because this microscopy fails to have this
would occupy the eyepiece. However, monocular capability.
microscopes are light weight and are inexpensive.
2. Binocular - with two eyepieces which proves to be CELL
more comfortable. It is the most common choice.
3. Trinocular - has a third eyepiece tube that can be
used by another person simultaneously or by a CCD STRUCTUR
camera. The trinocular option is more expensive
than the other two types.
What is the difference between
prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?
E
The primary difference between
prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells is that a
nucleus and other membrane-bound
organelles are only present in eukaryotic
cells. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
make up prokaryotes and eukaryotes,
respectively. Prokaryotes are always
unicellular, while eukaryotes are often
multi-celled organisms. Additionally,
eukaryotic cells are more than 100 to
10,000 times larger than prokaryotic
cells and are much more complex. The
DNA in eukaryotes is stored within the
nucleus, while DNA is stored in the
cytoplasm of prokaryotes.