Study of Compound Microscope Date:
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The Procedure
• Place the microscope on the working table and remove dust by wiping the body with a silk
cloth.
• Clean the lenses with lens cleaning fluid and lens cleaning paper. Identify the various parts
of the microscope.
• Draw a diagram of the microscope and label its various parts.
• Take a permanent slide preparation or a temporary preparation made by you, and keep it
on the stage of a microscope, fix it with clips after focusing and view.
• Learn how the microscope can be tilted or inclined by moving the arm of the microscope.
• Note, how focussing is done by moving the coarse adjustment and fine adjustment knobs.
Observation :
Parts of Compound Microscope
The parts of the compound microscope can be categorized into:
• Mechanical parts
• Optical parts
Mechanical Parts of a Compound Microscope
• Arm
o The whole microscope is handled or carried by the curve-shaped structure called the
arm.
• Body tube
o The body tube separates the objective and the eyepiece of microscope. The body
tube can be shifted down and up using the adjustment knobs.
• Foot or base
o It is a U-shaped structure and supports the entire weight of the compound micro-
scope.
• Stage
o The flat and rectangular plate that is connected to the arm’s lower end is called the
stage. It is the platform upon which the specimen or slide are placed for studying
and examining the various features. The height of the mechanical stage is adjusta-
ble on most compound microscopes. It has Stage clips on the stage that hold the
slide in place on the mechanical stage. The centre of the stage has a hole through
which light can pass.
• Clips
o The upper part of the stage is connected to two clips. These clips on the stage used
to hold the slide in its position.
• Diaphragm
o The diaphragm 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 appa-
ratus, hence controlling the light intensity and the size of the beam of light that gets
to the specimen.
o The diaphragm can be of two types:
▪ Disc diaphragm
▪ Iris diaphragm
• Nose piece
o The nose piece is circular and a rotating metal part that is connected to the body
tube’s lower end. The nose piece has three holes wherein the objective lenses are
embedded.
• Fine adjustment knob
o It is the smaller knob, which is used for sharp and fine focusing of the object. For
accurate and sharp focusing, this knob can be used.
• Coarse adjustment knob
o It is a large knob that is used for moving the body tube down and up for bringing
the object to be examined under exact focus.
• Light Source
o The light source in the microscope is a lamp that you turn on and off using a switch.
You can adjust the intensity of light by turning the light adjustment knob.
Optical Parts of Compound Microscope
• Eyepiece lens or Ocular
o At the top of the body tube, a lens is planted which is known as the eyepiece. On the
rim of the eyepiece, there are certain markings such as 4X, 10X, 40X and 100 X. These
indicate the magnification power. The object’s magnified image can be observed
with the help of an eyepiece.
• Condenser
o A condenser sits between the stage and the diaphragm. The condenser controls
how much light from the illuminator is permitted to pass up through the aperture,
it controls the intensity of the light.
• Objective lenses
o The objective lens gathers light from the specimen, magnifies the image of the spec-
imen, and projects the magnified image which can be observed through eye-
piece. There are three objective lenses are as follows:
▪ Oil immersion objective – 100X
▪ High power objective – 45X
▪ Low power objective – 10X
Precautions
• The objective lenses and eyepiece should be cleaned with the help of silk cloth and cleaning
liquid before use.
• The microscope should not be tilted when working, using it.
• When an object needs to be studied, focus on the low power objective first and then move
to high power.
• When focusing, care needs to be taken to ensure that the objective lens never strikes the
stage or the slide.
• Only the fine adjustment knob should be used when the high-power objective is employed.
• Coverslip should always be used to cover well-mount preparations before observation un-
der the microscope is made.
• Do not dismantle the microscope.
• An oil immersion lens should never be used without the use of oil.
