All About Your Microscope Set

What is a microscope set? A microscope is an optical instrument that is used for viewing very small objects. These objects are so small that they can’t be seen by a naked eye, or an unaided eye. The study of such small objects using a microscope is known as microscopy. That is why anything that can not be viewed by naked eye is called microscopic in size. The usage of a microscope can be traced back to almost four hundred years.

 

The microscope functions as an invaluable tool in today’s scientific research, as well as in the field of modern education. Major discoveries in the fields of biology, medicine, and materials research owe their existence to microscopes. Today microscopes can be used to provide even three-dimensional images of molecules.

A microscope set has many parts. These are the lenses, the arm, the illuminator, and the stage. The lenses are of two types: ocular lens that is used as the eye piece, and the objective lens. The tube connects both these lenses. The stage is the place where you place the object to be viewed. It is connected to the lens with the arm. There are two adjustment knobs that help in focusing the lenses.

The object to be viewed is kept near the objective lens. The light from the object focuses around 160mm inside the microscope set. An enlarged and inverted image of the object gets created due to this placement. Now the ocular lens / the eyepiece directs the image straight into the eye of the observer.

 

When you want to use the microscope set, you must fix the specimen to the stage with the help of stage clips. Make sure that you turn the rough focus knob to bring the lens close to the object. Now look through the eye piece and adjust the knob until the image comes into clear focus.

 

 

As with every thing else, microscopes have evolved over the ages. Today, even simple microscopes show amazingly clear images. Microscopes are basically of three types: electron, con-focal, and compound. As the name suggests, electron microscopes use a high energy beam of electrons in highly sophisticated magnifying devices. They have two sub categories: scanning electron microscope that looks at the surface of bulk objects, and transmission electron microscope that passes electrons completely through the sample. These microscopes have been designed for very high magnification usage, as electrons allow a much higher resolution. However, these microscopes suffer from a limitation as the electron beam must pass through a vacuum to be effective. This is because air molecules scatter the electronic beam.

 

Just as the electron microscopes use an electronic beam to illuminate the objects, the con-focal microscopes use a laser beam for that purpose. In a sense, it is a step down from the electron microscope. The specimen has to be dyed in a bright color so that the laser can produce a contrasting image. These microscopes are generally automatic with auto focus lenses.  

 

In comparison to the other two, compound microscopes are very simple. In compound microscopes, the illumination of the object is done using light from a bulb, or from the sun.

 

The kind of microscope set that you choose depends upon your specific application needs- there are portable student microscopes, surgical microscopes, metallurgical microscopes, and industrial microscopes to choose from.