Microscopes Lab Procedure

Microscopes

Introduction

The development of the microscope is arguably one of the most important events in modern biology. Using the microscope we have been able to see the structure of plants, animals, and cells. Microscopes are used by biologists in many disciplines, genetics, microbiology, ecology, and medicine. In fact, without the microscope, much of our modern science and medicine would not be possible.

The first microscopes were simple, using the light of the sun to illuminate specimens. Two pioneers of microscopy, Thomas Hooke and Anton von Leuwenhoek used such simple light microscopes to view plant and animal tissues as well as unicellular organisms such as paramecia and amoeba. Today's light microscopes work on similar principles, where light is passed through or bounced off a specimen and magnified by a series of lenses. However, modern microscopes are much more complex than the simple microscopes used by Hooke and van Leuwenhoek. Modern light microscopes are compound microscopes, meaning that light passes through a minimum of two lenses (the objective and ocular lenses). Compound microscopes are built so that different objective and ocular lens combinations can be used to give a range of magnification from 40 times to 1000 times or more.

In this lab, you will study several different websites to model the workings of a light microscope. There are several different "virtual" microscopes available with different levels of detail. The virtual microscope you will be using has been developed by the University of Delaware and models a real microscope very well. Using this virtual microscope you will learn how to focus the microscope on a specimen at several different magnifications as well as learn how things look under the microscope.

Exercise 1 – Parts of the Microscope

Lab Study A: Parts of the Compound Microscope

Using the websites below, please familiarize yourself with the parts of a compound light microscope. Control-click to open the links. On the Lab Report sheet, fill in the names of numbered parts of the microscope.

The Parts of a Microscope

Labeling a Microscope

Exercise 2: Basic Microscope Techniques

Lab Study B: Setting Up the Microscope

Please use the following link to load the University of Delaware's Virtual Microscope : Virtual Microscope. Please refer to the microscope and follow along with the directions here. Please answer any questions on the Lab Report sheet. Using the "At View Checklist" can help you with this part of the lab.