Name ______________________________

Date ________________

Microscope Homework Assignment / Study Guide

In your own words, give the function of each of the following parts of the microscope:

1. Ocular:

2. Objective:

3. Rotating nosepiece:

4. Diaphragm:

What is the primary contribution by each of the following men?

5. Zaccharias Janssen:

6. Robert Hooke:

7. Leeuwenhoek:

Explain the differences in each of the following pairs of terms:

8. light microscope and electron microscope

9. coarse adjustment knob and fine adjustment knob

10. simple microscope and compound microscope

  1  
Fill in the blanks of the following questions:

____________________11. The ability of a microscope to show details clearly is called?

____________________12. If a microscope had a 20x ocular and a 40x objective, the total magnification
would be equal to?
____________________13. Light microscopes are capable of what two functions, allowing the user to see an
enlarged and detailed image of a specimen?
____________________14. What two parts of the microscope should you be holding when you are carrying
the microscope?
____________________15. What is the diameter of the 10x field of view?

____________________16. What is the diameter of the 40x field of view?

____________________17. What unit of measurement is used for objects seen under the microscope?

____________________18. How big is this unit of measurement?

Short Answer:

19. How do you find the total magnification?

20. How many objectives are found on the microscope that we use?

21. What is the magnification of each objective on our microscope?

22. What is the magnification of the ocular on our microscope?

23. Why should you NEVER use the coarse adjustment knob with the 40x objective?

24. What is a wet mount slide and how do you make one?

25. What is a limitation of the light microscope? Explain why this is a limitation.

26. What is a limitation of the electron microscope? Explain why this is a limitation.

  2  
27. What are the maximum magnifications for each of the following?
a) Light Microscope:

b) Transmission Electron Microscope:

c) Scanning Electron Microscope:

28. A scientist wants detailed images of the inside of a bacterium. Which electron microscope should he use
and why?

29. In relation to the above question, when would a scientist use the “other kind” of electron microscope?

Label the parts of the microscope in the drawing below:

1. _______________________
2. _______________________
3. _______________________
4. _______________________
5. _______________________
6. _______________________
7. _______________________
8. _______________________
9. _______________________
10. _______________________
11. _______________________
12. _______________________

  3  
Estimate the length of the cell in the drawings below.

Cell  A   Cell  B  

10x objective 40x objective

Size of cell A: ______________ Size of cell B: ______________

What would you see if you viewed cell A under the 40x objective?

  4  
Answers:

1. The ocular is the first lens of a compound microscope.

2. The objective is the second set of lenses in a compound microscope.

3. The rotating nosepiece allows the user to change from one objective to the next.

4. The diaphragm is used to regulate the amount of light that hits the slide.

5. Zaccharias Janssen was a Dutch spectacle maker. He placed two lenses in a tube, making him the creator
of the first compound microscope.

6. Robert Hooke looked at cork under the microscope. He was the first to use the word “cell” in describing
the smallest units of life.

7. Leeuwenhoek was a Dutch merchant who made simple (one lens) microscopes. He was very good at
grinding and polishing lenses. He built over 240 different microscopes, achieving a magnification of
about 300x. He was the first to see and describe microorganisms under a microscope.

8. a) Light Microscopes: Light passes through one or more lenses to produce an enlarged image of a
specimen.
b) Electron Microscope: Forms an image of a specimen using a beam of electrons rather than light.

9. a) The coarse adjustment knob moves the stage up and down very rapidly.
b) The fine adjustment knob moves the stage up and down very slowly.

10. a) A simple microscope has only one lens.

b) A compound microscope has two sets of lenses.

11. resolution
12. 800x magnification
13. magnification and resolution
14. arm and base
15. 1500 µm
16. 375 µm
17. micrometer (µm)
18. One micrometer = .000001 m (or about 1/25,000th of an inch)

19. Total magnification = (ocular)(objective)

20. three

21. 4x, 10x, and 40x

22. 10x (This may vary with your particular microscope.)

23. The coarse adjustment knob can bring the stage up so far that it may hit the high power lens. It may
damage or break the lens.

  5  
24. Most of the slides we will make are wet mount slides. Wet mount slides are used to view living
organisms, as well as liquid substances of all kinds. They are also used for any sort of specimen
that needs to be kept moist.

1. Obtain a clean, dry slide.

2. Put your specimen in the center of the slide.
3. Add one large drop of water. (It should be one solid drop of water over the specimen.) It should not
run all over the slide or get on the back of the slide.
4. Hold a clean coverslip at a 45-degree angle over the specimen. Allow one edge of the coverslip to
touch the edge of the drop of water.
5. Gently drop the coverslip into place.
6. The whole coverslip should be in contact with water, but make sure the back of the slide is dry.

25. The light microscope is limited by its resolution or ability to resolve the image. At magnifications greater
than 2000x the image will become blurry.

26. Living specimens cannot be viewed with the electron microscope. It provides great images of the surface
and the inside of cells, but living processes cannot be viewed.

27. a) 2000x b) 200,000x c) 100,000x

28. He should use a transmission electron microscope. It uses a stream of electrons transmitted through a very
thinly sliced specimen. Magnets guide the stream of electrons toward the specimen, and the image is
projected on a photographic plate.

29. With the scanning electron microscope, the specimen is not sliced for viewing, but the specimen is
sprayed with a fine metal coating. This will provide excellent three-dimensional images of the surface of
the specimen.

Label the parts of the microscope:

1. ocular
2. objectives
3. body tube
4. rotating nosepiece
5. stage
6. stage clips
7. diaphragm
8. light source
9. coarse adjustment knob
10. fine adjustment knob
11. arm
12. base

The estimated length of cell A is around 1000 – 1100 µm.

The estimated length of cell B is around 100 – 115 µm.

Cell A is so large that it could not be seen in its entirety under the 40x objective.

  6