How to tell which Microscope to use

How to know which kind of microscope is appropriate for the task at hand.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• substance to investigate
• possibly a microscope

1. The differences between different kinds of microscopes begins with differences in magnification - the apparent size of the object- and resolution - the differentiation between two close objects. It is important to evaluate the specimens that you are interested in observing and to make a sensible selection of the equiptment needed for the observation.

2. Our choice of microscopes include the compound light microscope, the phase contrast microscope, and the electron microscope. The compound light microscope, uses light to differentiate the objects and often requires staining to provide contrast between objects. The phase contrast microscope is a special light microscope that uses differences in refractive index to produce contrast between cellular structures. The electron microscope uses streams of electrons to differentiate between objecs with a thousandfold magnification higher that that of the light microscopes.

3. The compound light microscope is suited for nonliving specimens. The phase contrast microscope is suited for living specimens. The eleectron microscope is suited for microscopic nonliving specimens.