Bacte Lab - Laboratory Act 1
Bacte Lab - Laboratory Act 1
Bacte Lab - Laboratory Act 1
ACTIVITY:
PART I Microscopy
Head – This is also known as the body; it carries the optical parts in the upper
part of the microscope.
Base – It acts as microscopes support. It also carries microscopic illuminators.
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.
The optical parts of the microscope are used to view, magnify, and produce an image
from a specimen placed on a slide. These parts include:
1. Eyepiece – also known as the ocular. this is the part used to look through the
microscope. It’s 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 nonflexible.
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.
In a standard bright field microscope, light travels from the source of illumination through
the condenser, through the specimen, through the objective lens, and through the eyepiece
to the eye of the observer. Light thus gets transmitted through the specimen and it appears
against an illuminated background.
Light Microscopes
Some of the most common scopes found in labs use visible projected light to illuminate
and magnify an object. The most basic light scope, a dissecting or stereomicroscope,
allows viewing of a whole organism at once while showing details like the antennae of a
butterfly at 100x to 150x magnification. Compound scopes, used for greater cellular
detail, contain two types of lenses that function to magnify unicellular organisms 1000 to
1500 times. More specialized are dark field and phase contrast microscopes, which
scatter light to capture not only live cells, but even internal cell parts, like mitochondria.
Fluorescent Microscopes
The fluorescent or confocal microscope uses ultraviolet light as its light source. When
ultraviolet light hits an object it excites the electrons of the object, emitting light in various
colors, which can help identify bacteria inside an organism. Unlike compound and
dissecting scopes, fluorescent microscopes show the object through a confocal pinhole,
so a complete image of the sample is not shown. This increases resolution by shutting
out external fluorescent light and building a clean three-dimensional image of the
sample.
Electron Microscopes
The energy source used in the electron microscope is a beam of electrons. The beam
has an exceptionally short wavelength and increases the resolution of the image
significantly over light microscopy. Whole objects are coated in gold or palladium, which
deflects the electron beam, creating dark and light areas as 3-D images viewed on a
monitor. Details like the intricate silica shells of marine diatoms and surface details of
viruses can be captured. Both transmission electron microscopes (TEM) and the newer
scanning electron microscopes (SEM) fall in this specialized category of microscopy.
3. Identify what organism can be seen in different microscopy you have mentioned
above?
Light Microscopes - most bacteria and some organelles like mitochondria plus the
human egg. You cannot see the very smallest bacteria, viruses, macromolecules,
ribosomes, proteins, and of course atoms
Fluorescent Microscopes – it allows different parts and aspects of bacteria to be
visualized - including nuclei, cell membrane, organelles, and even specific proteins.
Electron Microscopes – it uses a beam of electrons rather than visible light to illuminate
the sample. ... Some electron microscopes can detect objects that are approximately
one-twentieth of a nanometer (10-9 m) in size – they can be used to visualize objects as
small as viruses, molecules or even individual atoms.
2. The actual size of an Escherichia coli is 1.5um. What would be its image size if the
magnification used is 1000x?
GIVEN:
Actual Size: Escherichia coli = 1.5 um (0.0015mm)
Magnification: 1000x
Conversion: um > mm
1um = 0.001mm
3. What magnification is used if a Bacillus sp. have a microscopic size of 3.5um and an
image size of 15mm? (2pts)
GIVEN:
Actual Size: 3.5um (0.0035mm)
Image Size: 15mm
Conversion: um > mm
1um = 0.001mm