How many major components does a regular optical microscope consist of
(1) Mirror holder: The horseshoe shaped or circular part at the bottom of a microscope, which serves to stabilize and support the mirror body.
(2) Mirror column: A short column that stands upright from the mirror base. The upper mirror arm and lower mirror holder can support both the mirror arm and the stage.
(3) Mirror arm: The curved horseshoe shaped part is easy to hold, and there is a tilting joint at the lower end where it connects to the mirror column, which can tilt the mirror arm for easy observation.
(4) Stage: A platform used to place specimens by extending forward from the lower end of the mirror arm, with a circular hole in the center called a light hole. There is a mobile device on the stage (old style with one tablet holder on each side) used to fix and move the specimen.
(5) Mirror tube: The cylindrical part connected to the upper part of the mirror arm. Some microscopes have a suction tube inside the tube, which can be extended appropriately, usually with a length of 160-170 millimeters. The upper end of the lens barrel is equipped with an eyepiece, and the lower end has a rotating disk called an objective converter (or objective rotating disk, fixed at the lower end of the lens barrel, divided into two layers, with the upper layer fixed and the lower layer free to rotate. The converter has 2-4 circular holes for installing low or high magnification objectives of different magnifications). The function is to protect the imaging light path and brightness.
(6) Adjuster (also known as adjustment screw): There are two types of rotatable screws on the mirror wall, one large and one small, which can move the mirror tube up and down and adjust the focal length. The larger one is called the coarse focus screw, located above the mirror arm and can rotate to allow the lens tube to move up and down, thereby adjusting the focal length. The lifting of the lens tube is faster, and it is used for low magnification lens focusing; The small one is called a fine focus screw, located below the mirror arm. Its movement range is smaller than that of a coarse focus screw, and the lifting of the mirror barrel is slower, allowing for fine focus adjustment.
(7) Carrier: A metal platform that extends forward from the mirror arm. A square or circular shape is the place where a glass slide specimen is placed. The central part has a through hole, and there is an elastic metal pressure clamp on the left and right sides of the through hole, which is used to press the glass slide. More advanced microscopes often have thrusters on the stage, which include clip clips and propelling screws. In addition to gripping the slices, they can also move the slices on the stage. Eyepiece: Installed above the lens barrel, consisting of two sets of lenses, the function of the eyepiece is to magnify the inverted real image formed by the objective lens into a virtual image. The eyepiece is engraved with symbols such as 5 x, 8 x, 10 x, 15 x, 25 x, etc., indicating magnification. The magnification of the specimen we observe is the product of the magnification of the objective lens and the eyepiece. If the objective lens is 10 x and the objective lens is 8 x, the magnification of the object image is 10 x 8=80 times. A short hair can be placed on the light bar between the two lenses inside the eyepiece as a pointer to indicate the material to be observed. (2) Objective lens: Installed in the hole of the objective converter at the bottom of the lens tube, a typical microscope has 2-4 objective lenses, each consisting of a series of compound lenses with magnification marks on them, including 4x, 10x, 40x, and 100x. 4 x and 10 x objective lenses are low magnification lenses, 40 x is high magnification lenses, and 100 x is oil lens. Low magnification mirrors are commonly used to search for objects of observation and observe the full picture of specimens, high magnification mirrors are used to observe certain parts or finer structures of specimens, and oil mirrors are commonly used to observe finer structures of microorganisms or animals and plants. Reflector: a device used to obtain a light source during microscopic observation, located in the center of the microscope seat. It is a flat mirror on one side and a concave mirror on the other. By rotating the reflector, external light can be directed onto the specimen through the collector. When using, use a flat mirror for strong light and a concave mirror for weak light.
