Microscopes

The Compound Light Microscope:



1. Ocular Lens
2. Tube
3. Coarse Focus Knob
4. Fine Focus Knob
5. Base
6. Rotating Nosepiece
7. Objective lenses (10X, 40X, 100X)
8. Stage
9. Diaphragm Lever
10. Condenser
11. Lamp

The picture above is of a monocular microscope, you may also use a binocular microscope:



Total Magnification:
Objective Lens Magnification X Ocular Lens Magnification (usually 10X)
e.g. 4X objective * 10X Ocular = 40X total magnification

Working Distance: distance between objective and specimen, always the same for a particular objective

Inversion - a phenomenon in which the image you see through the microscope is flipped horizontally and vertically. E.g. You see a slide with "e", under the microscope it looks like


Depth - when you fine focus on a specimen, you can observe a great deal of depth in the viewing field. E.g. Colored threads