Microscope Calculations

Unit Conversions
1000 100 10 1000 1000

km m cm mm m nm

x 1000

x 100
x 10

x 1000
x 1000

Practice Questions
Use the worksheet provided to practice converting metric units. Pay close attention to the relative sizes of objects (this is objective 2.1.4 in the syllabus Compare the relative sizes of molecules, cell membrane thickness, viruses, bacteria, organelles and cells, using the appropriate SI unit)

Answers to worksheet questions

1) 1.5 m = 150 cm 2) 2 mm = 0.2 cm 3) 0.5 mm = 500 m 4) 30 m = 0.003 cm 5) The bacteria is about 10 times larger than the virus. 6) 0.1 cm

Today you will be observing the following types of cells:

Bacteria (from yoghurt) Animal Cells (from your cheek) Plant Cells (from an onion)

You will be asked to draw a picture of each of these cells at high power (magnification 400X)

Scientific Drawings
1) Drawn to scale. - draw a circle on your paper (use a compass if you have one) - divide the circle into four quadrants - draw the object in the circle. Position the object in the same part of the circle as it appears in the field of view. - draw the object so it takes up about the same amount of space within the circle as it does in the microscope.

Drawing to Scale

Scientific Drawings
2) Labelled - labels should be on the right hand side of the drawing unless you run out of space. - labels are in lower case letters, with straight lines connecting them to the objects they represent

Scientific Drawings
3) Has a title that is underlined. 4) Shading is done with stipples. 5) Indicate the magnification, field of view, and estimated size of the object.

Determining the Size of Objects Under the Microscope

- because you cannot directly measure objects under the microscope, it is sometimes difficult to know how large an object is. - size is measured indirectly and is compared to the size of something you already know.

Determining the Field of View

The field of view is the diameter of the circle seen through the eyepiece. You will begin by measuring the field of view at low power.

Determining the Field of View

High power field of view

You cannot directly measure the high power field of view because it is less than 1 mm. But you can calculate it using the following formula:
high power F.O.V.= low power F.O.V. x low power magnification high power magnification

Application questions
1) Approximately 500 of a certain type of bacteria can fit across your low-power field of view. What is the approximate size of one bacterium (in m)? 2) Approximately 7 of a type of protist can fit across your high power field of view. What is the approximate size of one protist (in m)? 3) If a microscope has a low-power magnification of 100x, a high-power magnification of 600x, and a low-power field diamter of 3000 m, what is the high power field diameter in micrometers?

Answers
1) Each bacteria is approximately 8.4 m (4.2 mm/500 * 1000) 2) Each protist is 60 m (0.42mm/7 * 1000) 3) 300 m

Instructions
Use the instruction sheet provided to prepare and view the three types of cells.

Draw a picture of each under high power (remember the features of scientific drawings)
Estimate the size of the bacteria, cheek cells and onion cells.

Homework
Use your textbook pages 17-27 to annotate the diagrams of the plant, animal and bacterial cells given to you.

Command term: Annotate: add brief notes to a diagram or graph

Due: Friday, September 20, 2013