Microscope World | Microscopes And Microscopy

The First Compound Microscope

Posted on July 11, 2012 by admin

Modern optical microscopes are amazingly hi-tech pieces of kit, pushing magnification to the very limits of the resolution permitted by the wavelengths of light, but as with many of the oldest scientific instruments, the first optical microscopes were very much simpler.

This image – reproduced from Wikimedia Commons – is a 19th Century reproduction of the very first (confirmed) compound microscope, which as we saw in our previous post Types of Microscopes was produced by the Dutch lens grinders Hans Lippershey and Zacharias Janssen in the late 16th Century.

Resembling a small telescope (or even a kaleidoscope!) this item offered a greater magnification than the simple hand lenses that preceded it, but it would be well into the 17th Century before the real revolution of microscopy began, thanks to the skilled lens-making of Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who is credited as being the father of microbiology.

How To Use A Compound Microscope

Posted on July 11, 2012 by admin

This video, produced by the TCC IT group, provides an excellent how-to guide to using a compound microscope.

Although the microscope shown is a laboratory or higher education-standard model and almost certainly differs from the more basic, hobbying microscopes favored by amateur enthusiasts (and simple microscopes aimed at younger children) the video has many useful tips that can help you to correctly set up, care for and use almost any compound microscope.

Good Microscope for Kids – Why a Child Should Use a Microscope

Posted on July 11, 2012 by admin

Microscopes are extremely important in many industries, but they are also a valuable educational resource and great fun for kids, too. Giving your child a microscope can help to bring science to life. This article by Samantha Graham offers some great advice for parents who may be thinking about buying a microscope for their child.

Good Microscope for Kids – Why a Child Should Use a Microscope
By Samantha Graham

Microscopes have been about since the early 1600′s and have offered a new understanding into how scientific micro-organisms function but it is only now that they have come to be conveniently accessible to kids. This really is a significant matter simply because it is a wonderful idea for children to experience things we have and are discovering about creatures and our own selves from a scientific perspective. It also enables a child to acquire a greater awareness of the environment and permit them to discover the secrets of existence.

Children ought to be shown the concept of science early on to provide a balanced learning environment in which they are able to thrive. We are encased by technology at a young age and this is why it’s a great opportunity for a child to begin learning science at an early age and realise the significance of this and how they fit into the world. As soon as they start to uncover all the diverse sources of existence in their world they will have a better knowledge of evolution and how each life source completes the jigsaw puzzle of what we call ‘life’.

A good way to begin this learning process is to provide you child with a good microscope for kids or at the very least teach them how to use one. This enables your child to satisfy their curiosity and provide them with the ability to study their environment. These devices enable one to observe plant and animal life on a microscopic level. This allows them to view cells and other parts of a living organism’s body function. This is a magnificent learning opportunity for later in life and encourages individual learning.

Individual learning, problem solving are skills that can be learned through microscopy and is another reason children should be given such a device. They allow exploration of the earth and everything on it.

To this extent, encouraging these skills first hand is considered paramount as without these skills they will not look to solve problems or to question, believing what they are told. A good microscope for kids can aid your child to see more clearly into how we evolve and the circumstances in how we came to be. This is an age old question that will be sure to ignite their imagination and curiosity in science and the world around us.

The advantage of this is unlimited for a child during those all important formative years. An early start provides the child with some insight into biology before they study it at school making the gap easy to cover while also establishing great building blocks for future learning.

A good microscope for kids is great to use while they are growing up as it nurtures the curiosity that most children have at a young age and it also prevents gaps in knowledge of the basics of the environment which seems to becoming more common these days in our modern society. Most young children have the ability to soak up knowledge very quickly and are hungry for as much as they can get, within the right setting.

Nurturing your child’s interest in the field of microscopy will provide them with the interest to explore the vast area of science as they grow and develop from their learning experience. Even a basic science background can provide a stepping stone for your child to further develop their study and offer them opportunities of interesting and varied work later in life.

Offering your child a bit of a head start to on the road to discovery and adventure will instil confidence in their ability to learn, problem- solve, and analyse the world around them.

It’s important when buying a Microscope for your child t to consider a few things before you make that all important purchase. This is a hobby and/or a learning experience that your child will find exciting and stimulating. For more information on the best tips for buying a microscope for kids visit http://www.microscope4kids.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Samantha_Graham

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Digital Microscope Software

Posted on March 16, 2012 by admin

As digital imaging equipment is becoming increasingly popular, more and more people are choosing to use digital microscope software to organize, store, manipulate and transfer the images they view through their microscopes.

Most new model compound microscopes and many other types of microscopes can now be easily fitted with a digital camera that plugs into your computer via a standard USB connection, and there are several advantages to using digital microscope software to store and edit your images.

For amateurs and beginners, cheap digital microscopes (which are essentially USB webcams with a small field of view that can be mounted in clamps) offer a low-cost and easy way to start peering into the world of the very small. These are usually plug-and-play and simply render images onto your computer screen. You can of course choose to save and manipulate these files as you would with any other digital image using standard digital image manipulation software, but you also have the option of choosing dedicated digital microscope software that has a number of functions specific to the capture and storage of magnified images taken with a USB digital microscope or adapted compound microscope.

What Is Digital Microscope Software?

Digital microscope software is the term given to computer programs whose job it is specifically to deal with images captured by a digital microscope or compound microscope with a digital camera attached to it.

Digital microscope software differs from other digital imaging software by having certain features that are of particular use to microscope users, both amateurs and professionals alike. These features include dedicated databases, one-click capture, built in reticles and other measurement and scaling devices, direct emailing of images and many others.

Who Uses Digital Microscope Software?

Lots of industries make use of microscopes in their day to day work, including biomedical industries, mining and extraction companies, antique dealers, coin collectors, jewelers… and the list goes on! Although in the past many of these industries would choose standard stereo microscopes to carry out their work, the increasing use of digital images (and the ease of sharing and collaboration that is offered with digital images) means that more and more people are using digital microscopes (or are attaching digital cameras to compound microscopes), and to get the very best results many companies and individuals alike are using digital microscope software.

Stereo Microscopes

Posted on February 27, 2012 by admin

Stereo microscopes are optical microscopes that are widely used in the sciences, business and in industry. They are particularly useful for viewing samples at lower magnifications than with other optical microscopes. They produce a three dimensional, ‘stereo’ view of the sample being examined, sending two slightly different images to the left and right eyepieces of the microscope, hence the name Stereo Microscope.

In this article we’ll discuss the design and uses of stereo microscopes, as well as detailing the major differences between stereo microscopes and other types of microscopes.

What Are Stereo Microscopes?

Stereo microscopes are just like normal compound microscopes but with one very important difference. Instead of having one focal path that forms a magnified image of the sample in just one eyepiece (or sends this image to a digital camera, computer or other recording device), Stereo microscopes have two sets of lenses that each produce a slightly different view of the sample. This allows the observer to view a detailed, three dimensional view of the sample, and to be able to more easily control any dissecting instruments or other tools that they may be using to manipulate the sample.

Because they are designed for three dimensional work the useful magnification of stereo microscopes is usually much lower than that of normal compound microscopes, being in the order of around 100x magnification rather than up to 1500x useful magnification in a high-quality compound microscope. They also usually make use of reflected incident light rather than light transmitted through a sample, as the samples and specimens most commonly worked with with these types of microscopes are too large and opaque to allow light to pass through.

Stereo Microscopes should not be confused with binocular microscopes, which are normal compound microscopes that simply split the single magnified focal path into two eyepieces, aiding viewing comfort for the user. By contrast, stereo microscopes produce two separate images to provide the user with a three dimensional view.

What Are The Uses Of Stereo Microscopes?

Stereo microscopes have a wide variety of uses in research, the investigation of crime, business and in industry. Because of their low magnification they are not usually of much use to amateur microscope enthusiasts.

Another name for the stereo microscope is the ‘dissection microscope’, which should give you some idea of one of their major uses! They are also used in microsurgery; for examining forensic samples in criminal detection work; quality control across a wide range of industrial sectors; electronics and circuit board manufacture; antiques and archaeological artifact identification, and many other sectors.

Conclusion

Stereo microscopes are optical instruments that produce two slightly different views of a magnified sample, allowing the observer to see the sample in three dimensions.

Although stereo microscopes have a much smaller useful magnification than other types of optical microscope, their ability to provide a clear three dimensional image of a sample makes them vital across a huge range of scientific disciplines and commercial activities. They are not generally of much use to amateur microscope enthusiasts.

Their wide use and availability coupled with the lower magnification of their lenses makes stereo microscopes less expensive than other types of optical microscope.

Types Of Microscopes

Posted on February 23, 2012 by admin

Microscopes have played an extraordinary role in expanding our knowledge and understanding of nature, and have been responsible for many new discoveries over hundreds of years, repeatedly revolutionizing our view of the world and of our place within it. Today, the newest and most hi-tech microscopes are at the cutting edge of nano-technology, helping us not only to observe the world of the very small, but to interact with and manipulate it to our advantage.

In this article we will will take a brief look at the history of microscopes, and introduce the different types of microscopes that are used by amateurs and hobbyists, in educational institutions, in industry and by researchers.

History Of Microscopes – At A Glance

Microscopes have been around since the late sixteenth century and were first invented in the Netherlands, a leading center of glass grinding and lens making at this time in history. Although it is not clear exactly who invented the first instrument – which is thought to have been produced in the 1590′s – credit is generally given to two Dutch lens makers, Hans Lippershey and Zacharias Janssen. Before the advent of microscopes, simple hand-held magnifying glasses were the only way to peer at objects too small to be seen clearly with the naked eye.

We do not know what name was given to the very earliest instrument that we now recognize as a microscope, but we do know that the term ‘microscope’ was coined by Giovanni (b. Johann) Faber, who was a friend of Galileo Galilei and fellow member (later secretary) of the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome. In fact it was Galileo’s own instrument (which he had called an ochiolino or ‘little eye’) that was the first to be called so in 1625.

The word ‘microscope’ is derived from two Greek roots; mikrós, meaning ‘small’ and skopeîn, meaning ‘to look’ or ‘see’.

The Different Types Of Microscopes

There are several ways of classifying the different types of microscopes, but the easiest and most obvious way is to use the method by which they magnify a sample. Broadly then, the different types of microscopes can be grouped into the following categories: Optical, Electron and Scanning Probe. We will briefly discuss these classifications below.

Optical Microscopes

Optical microscopes use visible light to magnify a sample, by focusing light through it, and then further focusing this light to provide a magnified view of the sample. For obvious reasons, optical microscopes were the first to be invented. There are many types of optical microscope, each of which have different uses and applications depending upon the sample to be studied. The resolution of optical microscopes is limited by the wavelengths of light. Optical microscopes have a useful magnification up to about 1500x, with a theoretical maximum resolution of up to 200 nanometers (billionths of a meter).

Traditionally optical microscopes worked by focusing light directly into an eyepiece for view by the observer, although more recently the advent of digital imagery means that digital microscopes are becoming more popular, both for industrial and home use.

Optical microscopes are the only kind available for amateurs and are used in high schools, colleges, universities and have some research applications, as well as a wide variety of uses in industry, including to check the authenticity of documents, coins and historical artifacts, amongst many other things.

Electron Microscopes

There are two major types of electron microscope: Scanning Electron Microscopes and Transmission Electron Microscopes. Electron microscopes were first invented in the 1930s and take advantage of the much smaller wavelength of electrons when compared to the photons of visible light.

Scanning Electron Microscopes work by focusing a beam of electrons onto the surface a sample and then detecting electrons that are scattered or released as a result (although some work by observing light, x-rays or other forms of electromagnetic radiation that may be given off when the beam of electrons hits the sample).

Transmission Electron Microscopes work in a broadly similar way to optical microscopes in that they pass a beam of electrons through a sample rather than scan across it’s surface as with Scanning Electron Microscopes.

Because of the vastly smaller wavelength of electrons when compared to visible light, electron microscopes are able to usefully magnify samples up to an incredible 500,00o times, and have a maximum resolution of around 1 nanometer.

Electron microscopes are very expensive, hi-tech pieces of kit and as such are only used in research institutions and in industry, for example in the life-sciences, electronics and precious metal extraction and refinery.

Scanning Probe Microscopes

Scanning Probe Microscopes work by measuring samples directly with a physical probe. They are able to achieve a remarkable resolution as the probe tips may be as small as just one atom across.

Scanning Probe Microscopes are at the very cutting edge of nanotechnology, and are not just helping us to observe the world of the almost unimaginably small, but to manipulate it, too. Scanning Probe Microscopes are only found in research institutions and in hi-tech engineering industries.

Scanning probe microscopy is rapidly becoming an entire branch of science in it’s own right, and a full explanation of the many types of these microscopes and their uses would take us well beyond the scope of this article.

Conclusion

Microscopes have been helping us to increase our knowledge of the natural world for hundreds of years, and today’s incredibly powerful and advanced machines are at the leading edge of new research across a range of scientific and engineering disciplines.

In this article we have briefly introduced the types of microscopes and given readers some idea as to their workings and uses. Hopefully your curiosity about these remarkable instruments has been piqued, and you’re now ready to find out more about the revolutionary discoveries and advances that all the different types of microscopes have brought us.

For more information and a general overview of microscopy, visit Wikipedia’s Microscope Wiki. Click here now for details.