Compound Microscope
Product Details:
The compound microscope is a tool that can be used for many purposes. From medical research to a day at the beach, your curiosity is limited only by your imagination. As with all disciplines, it is best to learn the basics and to apply them each time you use the microscope. By knowing and following a few simple rules, your scientific experience will be enhanced.
 
A light source illuminates the object to be seen. That source can be a mirror, or the instrument can be self-illuminating. As light passes through the object, the lens nearest the object, called the objective lens, produces an enlarged image of the object in the primary image angle. The lens that you look into, the eyepiece, acts as a magnifier and produces an enlarged image of the image produced by the objective lens. To ascertain magnification, simply multiply the eyepiece magnification, usually 10X, by the magnification of the objective lens, usually 4x, 10X, 40X and 100X. For example, a 10x eyepiece in conjunction with a 40X objective, will give you a magnification factor of 400. The object will be magnified 400 times larger than you can view it with the naked eye. The question is often asked why can you not have, say, a 100X eyepiece, and a 1000X objective. Would that not produce a 100,000 magnification? It would, but the problem is resolution, the way your eyes see the image. A compound light microscope is limited to about 2000X magnification. Beyond that limit you could indeed magnify it, but neither your eyes nor your brain would be able to recognize the image. With a limit of around 2000X magnification you can view bacteria, algae, protozoa and a variety of human/animal cells. Viruses, molecules and atoms are beyond the capabilities of today’s compound microscopes and can be viewed only with an electron microscope.