A microscope is a laboratory tools that has a function to see micro-sized objects or organisms. This microscope is very common in laboratories because of its very important function.
The principle of the microscope is to use two convex lenses, namely the objective lens and the eyepiece lens. The objective lens is a lens that is located near the eye to see, this lens is mounted on a rotating wheel or rotating handle on the microscope that you can rotate according to the magnification you want. While the ocular lens is a lens that is located near the object.
The objective lens works by doing the initial magnification so that it produces a real image and then it is implemented on the eyepiece. The image will be enlarged by the eyepiece so that the virtual image can be seen by the human eye.
There are various types of microscopes that you can know, ranging from light microscopes, stereo microscopes, electron microscopes, and others. Check out the following discussion to find out more about these types of microscopes.
1. Light Microscope/Analog Microscope
The first type of microscope is a light microscope or analog microscope. The magnification of a light microscope can reach a thousand times magnification.
With heavy and sturdy legs, this microscope has a three-dimensional lens. The three dimensions of the lens are the objective lens, the eyepiece lens, and the condenser lens.
The workings of this microscope is that the optical path of the microscope and the illumination will be directed and focused through a series of diaphragms and lenses as it moves from the source to illuminate the specimen and then switches the eyepiece of the microscope so that the object can be seen quite clearly.
2. Stereo Microscope
A stereo microscope is a type of microscope used for low-magnification applications, allowing for high-quality 3D viewing of subjects normally visible to the naked eye.
The components contained in a stereo microscope are also similar to components found in a light microscope, namely the presence of an eyepiece and an objective lens.
However, despite having similar components, stereo microscopes have differences with light microscopes. The sharpness of the stereo microscope is higher than that of the light microscope. So you can see various objects that you want to study more clearly.
The light source on a stereo microscope comes from above so that thick objects can be easily examined.
3. Electron Microscope
An electron microscope is a microscope that can magnify objects up to two million times using an electron-optical instrument in which a beam of electrons is used to produce a magnified image of a small object.
The magnification ability of an electron microscope is much higher than that of a light microscope. By using more energy and shorter electromagnetic radiation than a light microscope.
With this microscope you can get high resolution images of both biological and non-biological specimens. It is used in biomedical research to investigate the detailed structure of tissues, cells, organelles and macromolecular complexes.
4. Ultraviolet Microscope
An ultraviolet microscope is a type of light microscope that utilizes UV light to produce a magnified image of the sample being analyzed.
As a result of the shorter wavelength of UV light than visible light, it is possible to view samples with greater magnification and resolution.
Because ultraviolet light cannot be seen by the naked eye, the image on the object must be recorded first on a sensitive disk.
The components contained in this microscope consist of a power lens. The workings of this microscope are quite complicated, so the price for one microscope is quite expensive.
5. Fluorescence Microscope
Fluorescence microscope is a type of microscope that is very sensitive, specific, and widely used by scientists to observe the localization of molecules within cells, and cells within tissues.
The principle behind fluorescence microscopy is very simple. As the light leaves the arc lamp it is directed through the exciter filter, which creates an excitation wavelength.
The workings of this microscope is when light enters the microscope and hits the mirror, then the mirror will reflect one long wave so that it allows light to pass through.
The mirror reflects ultraviolet light to the specimen so that it can be seen.
6. Dark Field Microscope
A dark field microscope is a microscope used to illuminate an unstained sample causing it to appear brightly colored against a dark background. So this microscope is devoted to examining antigens that do not have color.
Dark field microscopes use light from a light source below the microscope stage to illuminate the specimen. Because staining can kill specimens, there are times when a dark-field microscope is used instead.
7. Phase Contrast Microscope
Phase Contrast Microscope is a microscope that is used to observe the structure of micro-sized living things such as animal tissue or bacteria without using dyes. The principle of the phase contrast microscope is very complicated.
So this microscope uses a phase contrast technique which is a light microscopy technique used to increase the contrast of transparent and colorless specimen images. This allows the visualization of cells and cell components that would be difficult to see using an ordinary light microscope.
Those are the various types of microscopes that you need to know. Hopefully the above article can add your knowledge about microscopes.