About Compound Microscope

Five "Need-to-know" Points about Biological Microscope

Generally speaking, biological microscope is the most fundamental and frequently used microscope. Whether using a microscope or knowing something about it, we should start with a biological microscope. Here are five key points that we must know about biological microscope.

Ⅰ.Observation object of biological microscope

Biological microscope is used to observe tiny objects, such as animals, plant cells, rhizomes, fibers, etc., which can only be observed clearly after being magnified by microscope.

Ⅱ.Observation method of biological microscope

The tiny objects observed with the biological microscope are all observed after they are sliced and dyed, and strict and standardized procedures and requirements have been worked out for the production of slices. For instance, the thickness of the carrier sheet and the thickness of the cover glass must be within the unified standard range, so that the clearest image can be gained under the observation microscope. The slice should be placed with the cover glass facing up, otherwise the image under the microscope can not be seen at high magnification.

Ⅲ.Observation process of biological microscope

When observing with a biological microscope, a low-power objective lens should be applied first. If the 4× objective lens is applied, both the field of view and depth of field of the low-power objective lens are comparatively large, so it is easy to find the image under the lens quickly, and then observe it further with the high-power objective lens, so as to observe the details of those tiny objects.

Ⅳ.Application of vital components of biological microscope

When a biological microscope is in use, some components need to be finely and accurately adjusted, such as condenser and aperture stop. When slicing under observation microscope, more perfect images under the microscope can be gained by adjusting the height of condenser and the opening size of aperture stop. The principle is that the height of the condenser is appropriately lowered and the aperture stop is comparatively narrowed when the low-power objective is used, but the opposite is true when the high power objective is used.

Ⅴ.100× oil immersion objective of biological microscope

100× oil immersion objective is the objective lens with the highest resolution among biological microscopes; when a 100× oil immersion objective is in use, it is necessary to drop cedar oil. Thus, it should be noted that there may be bubbles between the objective lens and the oil, which need to be eliminated. Apart from that, the oil immersion objective should be cleaned right away after use, otherwise, the stains on the objective lens will increase and the observation effect will be affected.