Microscopy Practical

Question 1

List all the parts of a microscope:

Answer 1

Eyepiece
Coarse adjustment knob
Fine adjustment knob
Light
Stage
High and low power objective lens

Question 2

What is a slide?

Answer 2

If you want to look at a specimen under a light microscope, you need to put it in a slide.
A slide is a strip of clear glass or plastic onto which the specimen is mounted.

Question 3

How do you prepare a onion slide?

Answer 3

1: add a drop of water into the middle of a clean slide.

2: cut up an onion out into layers. Use tweezers to peel off some epidermal tissue from the bottom of one of the layers.

3: using the tweezers, place the epidermal tissue onto the water slide.

4: add a drop of iodine solution.

5: place a cover slip on top.

Question 4

What is a cover slip?

Answer 4

It is a square of thin, transparent plastic or glass.

Question 5

How do you use a cover slip?

Answer 5

Stand the cover slip upright on the slide, next to the water droplet. Then carefully tilt and lower it so it covers the specimen.
Try not to get any air bubbles under there because they will obstruct your view of the specimen.

Question 6

How do you complete the microscopy practical?

Answer 6

1: clip the slide you’ve prepared onto the stage.

2: select the lowest-powered objective lens.

3: use the coarse adjustment knob to move the stage up to just below the objective lens.

4: look done the eyepiece. Use the coarse adjustment knob to move the stage downwards until the image is roughly in focus.

5: adjust the focus with the fine adjustment knob, until you get a clear image of what’s on the slide.

6: if you need to see the slide with greater magnification, swap to a high powered objective lens and refocus.

Question 7

What do you do after you have made your observations?

Answer 7

Draw you observations neatly with a pencil.

Question 8

How do you draw your observations from the microscopy practical?

Answer 8

1: draw what you see under the microscope using a pencil with a sharp point.

2: make sure your drawing takes up at least half the space available and that it is drawn with clear unbroken lines.

3: your drawing should not include any colouring or shading.

4: if you are drawing cells, the subcellular structures should be drawn in proportion.

5: remember to include a title of what you were observing and write down the magnification that was observed under.

6: label important features of your drawing (e.g nucleus, chloroplasts), using straight, uncrossed lines.