MICROSCOPE

Microscopes are instruments that are used in science laboratories to

visualize very minute objects, such as cells and microorganisms,
giving a contrasting image that is magnified.

STRUCTURAL PARTS OF A MICROSCOPE AND THEIR FUNCTION

There are three structural parts of the microscope i.e. head, arm,
and base.
1. Head – The head is a cylindrical metallic tube that holds the
eyepiece lens at one end and connects to the nose piece at
other end. It is also called a body tube or eyepiece tube. It
connects the eyepiece lens to the objective lens. The light
coming from objectives will bend inside this tube. In binocular
microscopes, they are adjustable so that the viewer can
adjust the eyepiece for maximum visualization.
2. Arm – This is the part connecting the base to the head and
the eyepiece tube to the base of the microscope. It supports
the head of the microscope and is also used when carrying
the microscope. Some high-quality microscopes have an
articulated arm with more than one joint, allowing more
movement of the microscopic head for better viewing.
3. Base – The base is the lowermost part of the microscope that
supports the entire microscope structure. It provides stability
for the microscope. Illuminators, light switches, and electrical
wiring systems are fitted in the base.

OPTICAL PARTS OF A MICROSCOPE AND THEIR FUNCTION

The optical parts of the microscope are used to view, magnify, and
produce an image from a specimen placed on a slide. These parts
include:

1. Eyepiece – The eyepiece (ocular Lens) is closest to the

viewer’s eye. They are located at the top of the microscope.
This part is used to look at the specimen. These lenses come
in different magnification powers from 5X to 30X, but the
most common ocular lenses are of 10X or 15X magnification.
They magnify the image for the second time.
2. Eyepiece tube – It’s the eyepiece holder. It carries the
eyepiece just above the objective lens. In some microscopes,
 such as the binoculars, the eyepiece tube is flexible and can
be rotated for maximum visualization for variance in distance.
For monocular microscopes, they are none flexible.
3. Diopter Adjustment – Diopter Adjustment is a control knob
present only in the binocular microscope that is used to
change focus on one eyepiece. It is used to correct any
difference in vision and compensate for the differences in
vision between the viewer’s two eyes.
4. Nose piece – A nose piece is a movable circular structure
that houses all the objective lenses. It is also called the
revolving turret. It is connected to the body tube and lies just
above the stage. It can be rotated clockwise or
counterclockwise to increase or decrease the magnification.
The change in magnification results due to a change in the
objective lens.
5. Objective lenses – The objective lens is the lens that is
closest to the specimen. They are fitted on the nosepiece. A
standard microscope has 3 to 4 objective lenses of different
magnifying powers: 4X, 10X, 40X, and 100X. The objective
lenses first receive the light transmitted from the specimen
and magnify the image for the first time. Objective lenses are
color-coded and are of different sizes. Size and color depend
on the power of the lens. The smallest lens is of the lowest
power, and gradually, the longest will be of the highest
power. The high power lenses i.e. 40X and 100X, are
retractable, i.e., their end can be pushed inward. In most
optical microscopes, objective lenses with 100X or more
magnification are of oil immersion type.
6. The Adjustment knobs – Adjustment Knobs are the control
knobs used to focus the microscope on the specimen. These
knobs are of two types;
a. Fine Adjustment Knob: Fine Adjustment Knob is used for
fine adjustment. It is a smaller knob and is used to move the
stage up or down very slowly. The stage covers a very small
distance on each rotation of the fine adjustment knob. It is
used to sharpen the image. It is mostly used while viewing
under high power.
b. Coarse Adjustment Knob: Coarse Adjustment Knob is
used for focusing the image under low power magnification. It
is a larger knob and is used to move the stage up or down
 very rapidly. The stage is raised or lowered rapidly with the
help of a coarse adjustment knob.
7. Stage – This is the section in which the specimen is placed
for viewing. They have stage clips that hold the specimen
slides in place. The most common stage is the mechanical
stage, which allows the control of the slides by moving the
slides using the mechanical knobs on the stage instead of
moving them manually.
8. Stage Control Knobs – Stage Control Knobs are the control
knobs used to move the stage mechanically. There are two
knobs; one for moving left and right and the other for moving
forward and backward. This will move the slide in the field of
vision.
9. Aperture – This is a hole in the microscope stage through
which the transmitted light from the source reaches the
stage.
10. Microscopic illuminator – A microscopic illuminator is a
light source. In some compound microscopes, a mirror, which
reflects the light from an external source to the sample, is
used. In other optical microscopes, different electric bulbs of
low voltages are used as a constant light source. Commonly
used illuminators are tungsten-halogen lamps, 75-150W
Xenon lamps, tin-halide lamps, mercury vapor lamps, etc. The
selection of types of bulbs is based on the requirement of
intensity and wavelength for illumination.
11. Condenser – These are lenses that are used to collect
and focus light from the illuminator into the specimen. They
are found under the stage next to the diaphragm of the
microscope. They play a major role in ensuring clear, sharp
images are produced with a high magnification of 400X and
above. The higher the magnification of the condenser, the
clearer the image. More sophisticated microscopes come with
an Abbe condenser that has a high magnification of about
1000X.
12. Diaphragm – It’s also known as the iris. It is found under
the stage of the microscope, and its primary role is to control
the amount of light that reaches the specimen. It’s an
adjustable apparatus, hence controlling the light intensity and
the size of the beam of light that gets to the specimen. For
high-quality microscopes, the diaphragm comes attached
with an Abbe condenser, and combined, they are able to
 control the light focus and light intensity that reaches the
specimen.
13. Condenser focus knob – This is a knob that moves the
condenser up or down, thus controlling the focus of light on
the specimen.
14. Abbe Condenser – This condenser specially designed for
high-quality microscopes makes the condenser movable and
allows very high magnification above 400X. High-quality
microscopes normally have a higher numerical aperture than
objective lenses.
15. The rack stop – It controls how far the stages should go,
preventing the objective lens from getting too close to the
specimen slide, which may damage the specimen. It is
responsible for preventing the specimen slide from coming
too far up and hitting the objective lens.
16. Light Switch – Light Switch is an electrical control
device. Light switches are used to on and off the illuminator.
17. Brightness Adjustment – The brightness adjustment
system controls the voltage supplied to the light bulb,
controlling the intensity (brightness) of the light bulb.