Lab 01: Compound light microscope

Parts of a compound light microscope

Ocular lens/eyepiece

Lens viewer looks through to see the specimen.

Eyepiece usually contains a 10X or 15X lens

Head

The body tube that connects the eyepiece to the objective lens.

Frame/arm

The arm connects the body tube to the base of the microscope

Stage Control

These knobs move the stage left, right, up, and down

Coarse adjustment

Brings specimen into general focus

Fine adjustment

Fine tunes the focus and increases the detail of the specimen

Light switch

Powers on the light

Base

Supports the microscope and it's where illuminator is located.

Brightness adjustment

a turn knob that adjusts the amount of light being used.

Illumination

The light source for the microscope.

Condenser

Gathers and focuses light from the illuminator onto the specimen being viewed.

Mechanical stage

The flat platform where the specimen is placed.

Nose piece

A rotating turret that houses the objective lenses.

diopter adjustment

Useful as a means to change focus on one eyepiece so as to correct any difference in vision between the two eyes.

Aperture

The hole in the middle of the stage that allows the light from the illuminator to reach the specimen

Stage clips

Metal clips that hold the slide in place.

How do ou calculate the total magnification?

ocular lens magnification * objective lens magnification