Biological Microscope
Catalogue: Biological Microscope
What is biological microscope?
Source of microscope
The biological microscope belongs to the lab microscope. Tracing the source of microscopes, it is known that the earliest known use of simple microscopes – magnifying glasses, can be dated back to the widespread use of lenses in eyeglasses in the 13th century. Around 1620 in Europe, compound microscopes, which combined an objective lens near the specimen with an eyepiece to view a real image, appeared. The inventor is unknown yet, but here following is an interesting version of the various stories about it.
In the 1680s, an old man who had worked as a doorman for several decades in the town hall concierge in Deft, Holland, was absorbed as a full member of the Royal Society, which was influential in the scientific and technological circles of Europe and even the world at that time. Then the Queen sent him a handwritten letter of congratulations which made him go from the most ordinary person to a celebrity at that moment. He shocked the world! But why? It was because he was the man who invented the first microscope in the history of world medicine to help people understand nature, control nature, and open the door to the micro world. After decades of unremitting efforts and exploration, he finally achieved his best accomplishment! From then on, his achievement has always had a profound impact on human lives. The nobody who shocked the world was Leeuwenhoek, who was born in 1632 in The Netherlands to a family of ordinary craftsmen and later became a famous Dutch microbiologist.
Application of biological microscope
Biological microscopes are a kind of precision optical instrument used to observe biological slices, biological cells, bacteria & living tissue culture, liquid precipitation, and other transparent or translucent objects as well as powder, fine particles, and other objects. The biological microscope is used for observation of microorganisms, cells, bacteria, tissue culture, suspension, and sediment in medical and health units, universities, and research institutes, and can continuously observe the process of reproduction and division of cells and bacteria in culture medium. It is widely used in industrial microbiology, parasitology, botany, oncology, immunology, genetic engineering, cytology, and other fields. Its optical technical parameters include numerical aperture, resolution, magnification, depth of focus, field width, coverage difference, working distance, and so on. These parameters are not always as high as possible. They are interrelated and mutually restricted. In practical application, the relationship between parameters should be coordinated according to the purpose of microscopic examination and the actual situation on the basis of ensuring the resolution.
Types of biological microscope
Classification of biological microscope
Classification by location level – biological microscopes can be divided into the student microscope (with mechanical stage), experimental microscope, and research microscope.
Classification by the number of eyepieces – biological microscopes can be divided into the monocular microscope, binocular laboratory microscope, and tri-ocular biological microscope.
Classification by relative position of the eyepiece and mobile station – biological microscopes can be divided into the upright biological microscope and inverted biological microscope. The objective lens of the upright (regular) biological microscope is above the moving table, and the objective lens of the inverted biological microscope is below the moving table.
Classification by imaging principle – biological microscopes can be divided into optical biological microscopes and digital lab microscopes.
Three main types of biological microscope
Laboratory optical microscope / Light microscope lab
For decades, scientists added more lenses to it. By using the lenses, they created compound microscopes with increasingly powerful magnification. The compound microscope consists of mechanical and optical components that are both essential to the function and use of the microscope. The compound light microscope allows objects as small as 0.2 nanometers visible to the human eye. Further developments helped make this technology relatively simple piece of technology an effective tool, such as the addition of a light or camera placed behind the microscope’s subject by assuming it is somewhat transparent. The laboratory microscope with camera is a nice innovation.
Electron microscopy laboratory
An electron microscope is a branch microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of lighting. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of a photon of visible light, electron microscopes have a higher resolution than light microscope lab and can reveal the structure of smaller objects. Electron microscopes use shaped magnetic fields to form a system of electron-optical lenses that are analogous to the glass lenses of an optical light microscope. Electron microscopes have been applied to the ultrastructure of a wide range of biological and inorganic specimens including microorganisms, large molecules, biopsy samples, cells, metals, and crystals. In the field of industry, they are often used for failure analysis and quality control.
The scanning electron microscope lab is popular among researchers from government agencies, universities, and industries. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) focuses an electron beam onto an object, but in this case, the focused beam knocks electrons from the surface of the object which is then collected and reconstructed to provide an image of the surface of the object. Samples must also be completely dry as with TEM but may consist of an entire mosquito. Possible magnifications range from 15x to 200,000x.
Scanning probe microscopes
Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is a branch of microscopy, too. It is used to form images of surfaces using a physical probe that scans the specimen. Scanning probe microscopy, as an instrument for imaging surfaces at the atomic level with the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope, was founded in 1981. Many scanning probe microscopes can image multiple interactions simultaneously. The way in which these interactions are used to obtain images is often referred to as a mode.
Other types of the public lab microscope
Hemocytometer inverted microscope
As the most convenient microscope for performing tissue culture, inverted microscopes allow hemocytometers to count cells when passaging or setting up an experiment. Hemocytometer inverted microscope lets you view cells in a culture plate more conveniently.
Microscope for pathology lab
The pathology lab microscope allows pathologists to see abnormalities that they would not be able to see with the naked eye, whether it be the number of certain cells, subtle differences in color, or fine structures in a specimen. In addition to this, various methods of contrast allow more details to be clearly visible.
Lab stereo microscopes
A lab stereo microscope, dissecting microscope or binocular laboratory microscope, is a low-power compound instrument designed to have a closer examination of three-dimensional specimens than is possible with a hand lens. The portable stereo microscope.
Lab handheld digital microscopes
Lab handheld digital microscopes are very modern digital microscopes for laboratory that are integrated into a handheld microscope system and used for inspection of surfaces and forensics.
Virtual microscope lab / Interactive microscope lab
The virtual microscope is available for free download and supports functionality from electron, light, and scanning probe microscopes, training materials to learn more about microscopy, datasets for these instruments, and other related tools.
Virtual technology has been well applied in many areas such as space flight, simulation training, simulation processing, network games, etc. In the field of the education system, it is needed a large number of funds every year for the construction of various laboratories. It is not easy. Due to the limitation of funds and experimental conditions, many experiments could not develop well in popularity and optimization. Constructing virtual laboratories to simulate real experiments can meet the needs of teaching and practice to a certain extent. The interactive microscope lab is a model for virtual LABS.
Biological microscope diagram
Use of microscope in laboratory
1) Access and placement.
When taking out the microscope from the mirror box, you must hold the mirror arm with one hand and hold the mirror base with the other hand. Keep the mirror upright to prevent falling eyepieces and do not carry slantwise. You must take and put it lightly. Place the mirror arm towards yourself 5-10 cm from the edge of the table. It is required a balanced table, a clean tabletop, and avoiding direct sunlight.
2) Turn on the light source.
Turn on the power switch.
3) Place the slide specimen.
Place the slide specimen to be examined on the mobile table to make the material face the center of the spotlight. Use the spring-loaded clamps on both ends of the slide to prevent the slide specimen from moving. Then move the material to a position right in the center of the spotting scope by adjusting the slide mover or adjusting the moving table.
4) Low magnification objective observation.
When observing specimens with a microscope, you should first find the object image with a low-power objective. Because the range of a low-power objective lens is large, which makes it easy to find the object image. The methods are as follows:
1- Turn the coarse collimation knob and look at the specimen from the side. Drop the lens barrel until the low-powered objective is about 0.5 cm from the specimen.
2- Observe from the eyepiece and slowly turn the coarse collimation knob by hand to make the lens barrel gradually rise until the object image in the field of view is clear. Thereafter, switch to the fine collimation knob and adjust the focus slightly to make the object image the clearest.
3- Fine-tune the moving table or slide mover to find the part you want to observe.
Note that the object image in the field of view of the microscope is usually inverted and should be moved in the opposite direction when moving the slide.
5) High magnification observation.
1- Move the part you want to observe to the center of the low magnification field, and the object image should be clear.
2- Rotate the objective converter so that the high magnification objective is moved to the correct position, and then slightly adjust the fine focusing knob to make the object image clear.
3- Fine-tune the moving table or slide mover to position the part you want to observe carefully.
Note: When using the high magnification objective, the coarse focus knob cannot be moved because of the close distance between the objective and the specimen.
4- Change the sample. After observation, if you need to change to another slide specimen, you should turn the objective back to low power, remove the slide, and change to a new slide. Fine-tune is necessary for a better observation. However, it is not allowed to change the film under the high-power objective to prevent damage to the lens.
Precaution of biological microscope
1) Biological microscopes are a kind of precision instrument. They must be used in accordance with the operating procedures. Being careful and patient when using and avoiding hasty and violent action to prevent operating errors and damage to the components.
2) Do not touch the optical lens and prevent the component from being damaged by any violent collision.
3) Always observe when adding a coverslip.
4) Do not let the water on the slide flow onto the moving table.
5) Do not have acid, alkali, and other chemicals on the microscope.
6) Do not expose the microscope to the sun.
How to buy a biological microscope?
If you are interested in our Biological Microscope or have any questions, please write an e-mail to info@antiteck.com, we will reply to you as soon as possible.