Know All These About Your Microscope: Magnification, Resolution and Working Distance

The main purpose of obtaining a microscope for the laboratory or even for your home is to be able to magnify or make bigger the view of minute objects or living things. Microscopes are complex enough with all the different parts and functions. Knowing about the magnification, the resolution and the working distance as related to microscopes is as important as using it. In fact, without knowing these details, its almost purposeless to use a microscope, for example, a compound light microscope.

So what is magnification? In layman’s terms, magnification is the ability of the microscope to focus into a minute object or microorganism and make it appear much much bigger that it really is. This way, each and every part of the specimen can be viewed very well.

The amount of magnification is computed by multiplying the number of the magnification of the eyepiece and the number of magnification of the objective. That is how you get the total magnification.

High power objectives vary in magnification. They range from 40 times to 100 times or even higher. In addition to that, the magnification is enhanced further by using special objectives like the oil immersion objective where a special oil is put on top of the slide and the objective is gently touched to the surface of the oil not only to further magnify but to improve the resolution. Oil has the ability to refract light so that light is concentrated to one area only, such as the center of your slide. Consequently, you see a sharper picture in high resolution.

Speaking of resolution, what is it exactly? The resolution is the ability of the microscope to decrease the view angle of the observer’s eye so that the view is much clearer and sharper. Actually, resolution is the facility to differentiate between two different points. It is like distinguishing at very close glance the texture and components of a certain thing. Once the object has been distinguished, then it has been resolved.

Resolution is the important function that allows a laboratory specialist to see the smallest bands in a tiny muscle cell or the tail in a sperm cell. The resolution also has the ability to make an object look like it has texture.

Resolution actually, is one of the most important features of your microscope. It is senseless to purchase a microscope that offers low resolution because this means what you will see is a blurred, fuzzy picture that will not serve its purpose. It is important that there is sharpness of details in the picture.

Therefore, resolution differs greatly from magnification. Even if an object is magnified at its maximum, looking really big, it would still look fuzzy if the resolution was low. High resolution, then, would be one quality a buyer should look for in a microscope. This means that you can be able to see clear, sharp details in your specimens.

Let’s take a closer look at the other important factor with microscope use, the working distance. This is the specific distance measured from the front of the objective to the plane of the specimen. This is the distance an observer shall keep between the objective and the specimen. However, the better the working distance is in microscopes, the higher its cost. Long working distance is most ideal for imaging that is accurate.

Here is something important, as you increase the magnification of the objective, the working distance decreases. This means that high power objective will be closer to the specimen than the low power objective. To focus more clearly in the high power objective, the fine focus knob is gently manipulated to put the specimen in sharp focus.

Now that the three factors important for the use of microscopes have been discussed, it should be clearer to you the proper use of your microscope. Do not forget, being adept at focusing is a matter of knowing some details on your microscope and a lot of practice. The longer the experience in microscopy, the more adept you are in focusing.

Remember then that using a microscope means that your specimen should be properly lit, with the proper contrast of colors and highly-resolved. This is the only way to have a clear picture of the details that you need to see in your specimen. In the first place, it is the details that you want to see, that is why you are using a microscope. That is why it is very important that you look into all the features of the microscope you are going to use or purchase.