THE MICROSCOPE
Invention of the Microscope The microscope was invented by a trio of Dutch eyeglass makers in the late 1500s and magnified objects up to 9x The invention of the microscope allowed scientists to view cells for the first time. In 1665, Robert Hooke published his drawings of cells, but these were the cell walls of cork cells; the cells were no longer living In the early 1670s, Anton van Leeuwenhoek was the first person to examine living cells
Types of Microscopes There are two types of microscopes: –Light microscopes –Electron microscopes
Light Microscope Uses either sunlight or artificial light to view objects. The object being viewed must be thin enough for light to pass through. The advantage of a light microscope is that it can magnify many microscopic organisms while they are still alive. The disadvantage of this microscope is that it can only magnify about 1000x.
Electron Microscope These microscopes either: –pass electrons through a thin slice of an object (transmission electron microscope or TEM) –examine the outside of an object (scanning electron microscope or SEM) The advantage of this microscope is that they can magnify objects up to one million times their actual size.
Electron Microscope (cont.) The biggest disadvantage of this microscope is that specimens must be fixed in position and placed in a vacuum so organisms can not be alive.
Magnification Magnification makes the image look larger. To find the magnification, multiply the magnification of the ocular lens by the magnification of the objective lens. EX: 4x objective and a 10x ocular lens will give a magnification of 40x.
Resolution Resolution is the ability to distinguish between two points. The better the resolution, the sharper the image. Look at the images on the next page. Even though we increased the magnification, the second image is blurry because of poor resolution.
Magnification and Resolution
Dyes/Stains Used to color a specimen and thus improve the contrast between different parts of a specimen. Staining, however, usually kills the specimen.