How to Use the Microscope

• 1. The microscope should be placed on a bench or table with the arm towards you and the stage away from you. Sit behind the microscope in a comfortable position.
• 2. Light should be used to shine through the object and this could be light from a window or an electric lamp on the bench. The mirror under the stage is used to reflect the light. Swing the mirror so that the flat surface is uppermost.
• 3. Put the prepared specimen slide on the stage and use the clip to hold it.
• 4. Rotate the microscope nose-piece until the lower power objective is directly above the center of the stage.
• 5. Look through the eyepiece and adjust the mirror under the stage to ensure that sufficient light can pass through the specimen.
• 6. Use the coarse adjustment, focus the microscope and if necessary, shift the slide around until the specimen comes into view.
• 7. Now use higher magnifying powers to view the objects and use fine adjustment knob to focus the image sharply.
• 8. Draw what you see at each power and write the magnification beside each drawing (e.g., x2, x4, or x10).

Magnification and Microscope

Magnification of a microscope refers to the amount or degree to which the object observed is enlarged. It is measured by multiples, such as x2, x4, and x10, indicating that the object is enlarged to twice as big, four times as big, or ten times as big, respectively. The magnification written beside drawings when using the microscope is found by multiplying the power of the eyepiece lens by the power of the objective lens, thus:

Objective Lens	Eyepiece Lens	Magnification of the Microscope
x10	x7	x70
x44	x7	x308
x10	x10	x100
x44	x10	x440

Types of Slides

A wet-mount slide is a microscope slide prepared with wet ingredients such as blood, pond water, and distilled water. Preparing a wet-mount slide allows the observer to view any microscopic organisms present in the slide while they are still alive. The organisms will move in the liquid while you view them through the viewfinder of the microscope. It is also referred to as a temporary slide because the water soon dries up. They are also used for any sort of specimen that needs to be kept moist.

Permanent is a slide in which the specimen is mounted in a special resin such as Canada balsam.