Microscoping
Drawings: - Use HB pencil
- Fill in at least half of given space for drawing, do not draw too small
- Draw what you see, not what you think you should see
1. Drawing low- power plan (a plan diagram)
Diagram in which only the outlines of different tissues are shown
Plan diagrams never show individual cells
You can, if you need, switch to higher-power objective to help you too see were is the
line between two different tissues
Do not forget to get back to lower- power to again see the whole area you are drawing!
2. High-power drawing
Shows individual cells (you will generally be told how many to draw)
In plant cells always use two lines to show the tickness of cell wall
When labeling use ruler to draw a line, do not use arrows, connect the line exactly to
the cell you are labeling
Use page 165 in the coursebook to revise the rules of drawing. Learn all tissues in root,
stem and leaf.
Examples of other tasks:
Task 1.
1. Divide the total surface area of the leaf by the area of the epidermis visible in the
photomicrograph: 2000 mm2 / 0.04 mm2=50 0000
2. Since each section of 0.04 mm² contains 4 stomata (we only count those that are more
than half visible) , we can calculate the total number of stomata on the leaf by
multiplying the number of stomata in one section by the total number of sections
4 stomata per section×50,000 sections=200 000 stomata
Task 2. Comparing different specimen
When comparing xherophytes with regular plant leafs you could also mention:
Sunken stomata in xherophytes not present in regular leaves.
Remember only mention features that you can see!
Task 3. Calculating percentage difference
( Lenght of Q ) – (lenght of P) divided by the lenght of Q multiplied by 100
Record to 2 significant figures.
Do not foreget to write units when measuring in c(i)
Task 4. Measuring size and calculating magnification
[Link] scale bar and line P – Q (Remeber to convert to 𝜇m)
2. Divide length of scale bar by 150
3. Length of line P – Q divided by the answer to second step
Look at worked examples in coursebook page (11-14), for practice.
Practical skills
1. Dependent, independent, standardised variable- know to indentify them
2. Know the difference between range and interval
3. Producing a range of concentrations from a standard solution (serial dilution)
Pictures below show: 1. If we need interval of 0.2
[Link] we need dilution factor of 2 (conc. is reduced by half)
3. if we need dilution factor of 10
If not stated otherwise use the method you want.
If confused you can also use this formula to calculate how much stock solution to take.
4. Drawing graphs
5. Identifying sources of error
6. Suggesting improvements (page 303,304 in coursebook)