Arm: The part of the microscope that connects the tube to the base.

When
carrying a microscope, grab the arm with one hand and place your other hand
under the base.

Base: The bottom support of the microscope (see arm above).

Body: This term is used mostly with the low power stereo microscopes and it is
the basic heart of the microscope without any type of stand (base) or
illuminators. It usually includes the eyepiece and objective lenses but not the
focusing block.

Coarse Focus: This is the rough focus knob on the microscope. You use it to
move the objective lenses toward or away from the specimen (see fine focus).

Condenser Lens: A lens mounted in or below the stage whose purpose is to

focus or condense the light onto the specimen. The higher power objective
lenses have very tiny diameters and require concentrated light to work properly.
By using a condenser lens you will increase the Illumination and resolution.
Condenser lenses are not required on low power microscopes.

Cover Slip: A very thin square piece of glass or plastic placed over the
specimen on a microscope slide. When used with liquid samples, it flattens out
the liquid and assists with single plane focusing.

Diaphragm: Generally a five hole disc placed under the stage on a high power
microscope. Each hole is of a different diameter. By turning it, you can vary the
amount of light passing through the stage opening. This will help to properly
illuminate the specimen and increase contrast and resolution. The diaphragm is
most useful at the higher powers.

Eyepiece Lens: The lens at the top of the microscope that you look into. They
are usually 10X but also are available in 5X, 15X and 20X. Widefield lenses
have a large diameter and show a wide area of the field of view.

Fine Focus: This is the knob used to fine tune the focus on the specimen. It is
also used to focus on various parts of the specimen. Generally one uses the
coarse focus first to get close then moves to the fine focus knob for fine tuning.

Field of View: Sometimes abbreviated "FOV", it is the diameter of the circle of

light that you see when looking into a microscope. As the power gets greater,
the field of view gets smaller. You can measure this by placing a clear metric
ruler on the stage and counting the millimeters from one side to the other.
Typically you will see about 4.5mm at 40X, 1.8mm at 100X, 0.45mm at 400X and
0.18mm at 1000X. See micrometer.
Focus: A means of moving the specimen closer or further away from the
objective lens to render a sharp image. On some microscopes, the stage moves
and on others, the tube moves. Rack and pinion focusing is the most popular
and durable type.

Head: The upper part of the microscope that contains the eyepiece tube and
prisms. A monocular head has one eyepiece, a binocular has two (one for each
eye), a dual head has two but they are not together, and a trinocular head has
three, one which is generally used for a camera connection.

Illuminator: A light source mounted under the stage. Three types of light are
commonly used: Tungsten, Fluorescent and Halogen. Tungsten is the least
expensive and most common. Fluorescent is bright, white and runs cool and
Halogen is very bright and white but gives off heat like tungsten.

Immersion Oil: A special oil used in microscopy with only the 100X objective
lens (usually at 1000X total power). A drop is placed upon the cover slip and the
objective is lowered until it just touches the drop. Once brought into focus, the oil
acts as a bridge between the glass slide and the glass in the lens. This
concentrates the light path and increasing the resolution of the image. Both Type
A and Type B are commonly used in light microscopy and the only difference is
the viscosity (B is more viscous).

Micrometer: Also called a micron it is the metric linear measurement used in

microscopy. There are 1000 microns in a millimeter. If something is 1.8mm long
then it can also be expressed as 1,800 microns (or micrometers) long.

Mirror: Allows you to direct ambient light up through the hole in the stage and
illuminate the specimen.

Nosepiece: The part of the microscope that holds the objective lenses also
called a revolving nosepiece or turret.

Objective Lens: The lens closest to the object. In a stereo (low power)
microscope there are objective pairs, one lens for each eyepiece lens. This
gives the 3-D effect. On a high power binocular model there is still only one
objective lens so no stereo vision.

Oil Immersion Lens: An objective lens (usually 100X or greater) designed to

work with a drop of special oil placed between it and the slide. With oil, an
increase in resolution will be noticed. Also, see "Immersion Oil" above.

Pointer: When you look through the eyepiece lens, you may see a pointer. By
turning the eyepiece, you can rotate the pointer around.
Resolution: The ability of a lens system to show fine details of the object being
observed.

Slide: A flat glass or plastic rectangular plate that the specimen is placed on. It
may have a depression or well to hold a few drops of liquid.

Slip Clutch: When students bring the focus all the way up or down and continue
to try turning the knob, damage to the focusing system can occur if there wasn't a
slip clutch. It is a mechanical device that protects the gears of the microscope.

Stage: The flat plate where the slides are placed for observation.

Stage Clips: Clips on the stage used to hold the slide in place.

X: Times as in 200X or two hundred times magnification. The magnification of a

microscope is determined by multiplying the power of the eyepiece lens by the
power of the corresponding objective lens.