Mikee cantillo

Enumerate all different parts of microscope and know its functions. (10pts)
BASIC PARTS
1. Head – This is also known as the body, it carries the optical parts in the upper part of the
microscope.
2. Base – It acts as microscopes support. It also carries microscopic illuminators.
3. Arms – This is the part connecting the base and to the head and the eyepiece tube to the base
of the microscope. It gives support to the head of the microscope and it 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.
OPTICAL PARTS
1. Eyepiece – also known as the ocular. this is the part used to look through the microscope. Its
found at the top of the microscope. Its standard magnification is 10x with an optional eyepiece
having magnifications from 5X – 30X.
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. Objective lenses – These are the major lenses used for specimen visualization. They have a
magnification power of 40x-100X. There are about 1- 4 objective lenses placed on one
microscope, in that some are rare facing and others face forward. Each lens has its own
magnification power.
4. Nose piece – also known as the revolving turret. It holds the objective lenses. It is movable
hence it cal revolve the objective lenses depending on the magnification power of the lens.
5. The Adjustment knobs – These are knobs that are used to focus the microscope. There are two
types of adjustment knobs i.e fine adjustment knobs and coarse adjustment knobs.
6. Stage – This is the section on which the specimen is placed for viewing. They have stage clips
that hold the specimen slides in place. The most common stage is a mechanical stage, which
allows the control of the slides by moving the slides using the mechanical knobs on the stage
instead of moving it manually.
7. Aperture – This is a hole on the microscope stage, through which the transmitted light from the
source reaches the stage.
8. Microscopic illuminator – This is the microscopes light source, located at the base. It is used
instead of a mirror. it captures light from an external source of a low voltage of about 100v.
9. 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 more the image clarity. More
sophisticated microscopes come with an Abbe condenser that has a high magnification of about
1000X.
 10. Diaphragm – it’s also known as the iris. Its 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.
11. Condenser focus knob – this is a knob that moves the condenser up or down thus controlling
the focus of light on the specimen.
12. Abbe Condenser – this is a condenser specially designed on high-quality microscopes, which
makes the condenser to be movable and allows very high magnification of above 400X. High-
quality microscopes normally have a high numerical aperture than objective lenses.
13. 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 hit the objective lens.

PART II Critical Thinking

1. What is the principle of a bright field microscopy? (1pt)

For a specimen to be the focus and produce an image under the Brightfield Microscope, the
specimen must pass through a uniform beam of the illuminating light. Through differential
absorption and differential refraction, the microscope will produce a contrasting image.
The specimens used are prepared initially by staining to introduce color for easy contracting
characterization. The colored specimens will have a refractive index that will differentiate it from the
surrounding, presenting a combination of absorption and refractive contrast.
The functioning of the microscope is based on its ability to produce a high-resolution image from an
adequately provided light source, focused on the image, producing a high-quality image.
The specimen which is placed on a microscopic slide is viewed under oil immersion or/and covered
with a coverslip.
2. What are the different types of microscope used in the bacteriology lab? (2pts)
bright-field microscope
dark-field microscope
phase-contrast microscope
differential interference contrast microscope
fluorescence microscope
confocal scanning laser microscope
3. Identify what organism can be seen in different microscopy you have mentioned above? (2pts)
bright-field microscope - micrococcus
dark-field microscope – spirochetes ( treponema pallidum)
phase-contrast microscope –entereobacteriacciaea
differential interference contrast microscope – bacteria spirilum
fluorescence microscope - mycobacterium
confocal scanning laser microscope – pseudomonas aurigonosa

Part III Computation (no formula, no point)

1. What is the formula to determine the actual size of an organism? (1pt)

Actual size (um) = Magnification / Image size (um)

2. The actual size of an Escherichia coli is 1.5um. What would be its image size if the magnification
used is 1000x? (2pts)
= 1.5um*1000x
= 1500mm
3. What magnification is used if an Bacillus sp. have a microscopic size of 3.5um and an image size
of 15mm? (2pts)
= 15mm/3.5um
= 4.28x