Types of Microscopes and Uses

Types of Microscopes

In this lesson, you will learn about four types of microscopes:

• stereo microscope

• compound microscope

• electron microscope

• X-ray microscope

Recall that all matter is composed of atoms. Those atoms are composed of even smaller particles:

• protons

• neutrons

• electrons

Protons and neutrons constitute an atom's nucleus. Electrons orbit the empty space around the nucleus.

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What elements make up water?

​Individual atoms and molecules are too small for the human eye to see. How do scientists know they exist? In this lesson, you will learn about tools that scientists use to observe the microscopic world. Continue on to learn more.

Draw

Draw the tool scientists use to observe very small things.

Give as much detail as you can. You have 3 minutes.

​In this lesson, you will learn about four types of microscopes:

• stereo microscope

• compound microscope

• electron microscope

• X-ray microscope

​Let's make some guesses about how these microscopes work.

A stereo microscope is one type of light microscope. Light microscopes use lenses and visible light to show a magnified image of a specimen.

A lens is a curved piece of glass or plastic that bends and focuses light. The lens bends light waves to focus them in a way that makes the object appear larger.

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Stereo Microscope

​Stereo microscopes have a platform called a stage, on which you place a specimen. Light bulbs above the specimen shine down on the object.

Stereo microscopes are good tools to use to view solid objects, such as rocks, insects, and metal. An average stereo microscope magnifies objects to about 100 times larger than the actual object.


What kind of microscope did CCA send you?

​Compound Microscope

​A compound microscope is often also called a light microscope. The invention of the compound light microscope allowed scientists to view the tiny structures in living things for the first time. The video below reviews the invention of the compound light microscope. As you view the video, pay attention to what innovation allows light microscopes to function.

Video- Microscope: The Tube That Changed The World

​Compound microscopes have two lenses to focus light and increase the size of an image. The word compound in the name refers to the double lens. You will use a compound light microscope in many upcoming lessons in this course. Move on to the next page to learn more about compound light microscopes.

Like stereo microscopes, compound microscopes have a light source. However, the light source on a compound microscope is below the specimen. Light shines through the specimen before passing through the lenses of the microscope.

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Compound Microscopes

​Scientists use slides to hold specimens they plan to view under a compound microscope. A slide is a flat rectangle of glass or plastic. Light passes easily through the clear material.

Because the light source is below the slide, a specimen that you view using a compound light microscope must be sliced very thin. You can use a compound microscope to view specimens up to 1,000 times larger than normal.

What might be a good specimen to observe using this microscope knowing that it can make things 1000 times larger?

Answer is on the next slide.

​What are these?

Some objects are so small that light cannot help you see them. An electron microscope shoots electrons at a specimen to create an image of the object. Electron microscopes can magnify objects to 500,000 times their actual size.

The video below describes how scientists use electron microscopes to view objects smaller than a cell.

Seeing the Smallest Thing in the Universe Part 1

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Electron Microscope

​If a scanning electron microscope can magnify things up to 500,000 times, how many times do you think the most powerful electron microscope can magnify objects?

Answer on next slide.

​10,000,000x

An X-ray microscope uses X-ray waves to make a 3D image of an object. X-ray microscopes have a resolution between a compound microscope and an electron microscope. The average X-ray microscope image is about 100,000 times larger than the actual object.

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X-Ray Microscope

​Although X-ray microscopes cannot magnify objects as much as electron microscopes, they have a different advantage. The X-rays used by the microscope can penetrate the surface. You can use X-ray microscopes to view structures inside an object.

Scientists use several different types of microscopes to view microscopic objects. Each type of microscope is useful in different circumstances.

​Microscopes have come a long way. Here is one of the first ones.

​Think about the scientific discoveries that microscopes played a role in. How would the world of science be different today if the microscope had not been invented?

​HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!