Parts Of An Microscope

Body tube

Long, cylindrical component that houses the ocular and objective lenses, maintains the distance between lenses and focuses light on the specimen.

Revolving nosepiece

Rotating mechanism that holds objective lenses and allows switching between lenses of different magnification powers.

Scanning objective

Lowest

Low power objective

Medium

High power objective

Highest

Stage clips

Small clips located on the microscope stage that hold the specimen in place during observation, ensuring that the specimen does not move or shift during observation.

Diaphragm

Rotating disk located beneath the stage of a microscope, regulates the amount of light that passes through the specimen to enhance contrast and clarity.

Light source

Provides illumination to the specimen being observed, can be a built

Eye piece lens

Lens that the user looks through to view the specimen, typically has a magnification power of 10x and is located at the top of the body tube.

Arm

Curved handle that connects the base and the body tube, used to carry and move the microscope.

Stage

Flat surface on which the specimen is placed for observation, located beneath the objective lenses and is typically moveable for precise positioning of the specimen.

Coarse adjustment

Large knob located on the side of the microscope that moves the stage up and down to focus the specimen, used for initial focusing at low magnifications.

Fine adjustment

Smaller knob located on the side of the microscope that moves the stage up and down very slowly to achieve precise focusing of the specimen, used for fine adjustments at high magnifications.

Base

Bottom portion of the microscope that provides stability and support, usually weighted to prevent tipping.