Quick Microscope Education

Glossary

Eyepiece: The lens closest to your eye when you look through a microscope or stereoscope.

Body Tube: The cylindrical tube that holds the eyepiece.

Arm: The curved part that holds the body tube in place over the stage.

Objectives: The lower cylindrical lenses on a microscope or stereoscope that are closest to the specimen being viewed.

Magnification: Multiply the power of the eyepiece lens (10x) by the power of the objective lens (40x) and you get the magnification (400x).

DIN Objectives: (Stands for Deutsche Industrie Normen) A DIN-threaded lens is an international standard which insures compatibility with lenses from any microscope manufacturer in the world.

Stage: The flat surface you put your slide or specimen on.

Stage Clips: The metal clips that hold the slide or specimen stationary.

Mechanical (Moveable Stage): A device you attach to your stage that holds the slide firmly and allows you to move it precisely (most valuable at 400x or more where precision is critical).

Coarse Focus Knob: Used to roughly adjust the position of the body tube, which quickly brings your specimen into focus.

Fine Focus Knob: Used to make adjustments to the body tube, bringing your specimen into more fine focus. We highly recommend a fine focus for most scientific study.

Slip Clutch: Keeps the stage from "slipping" so that you can focus perfectly!

Parcentered: When the object in the center of your viewing area stays centered when you rotate (change) objectives.

Parfocal: When the object in view stays in focus when you rotate (change) objectives.

Iris Diaphragm: Working like the iris on an eye, this device is on the underside of the stage. It adjusts (by opening and closing) the amount of light that passes through the specimen.

Abbe Condenser: A device on the underside of the stage that condenses and focuses the light coming through the diaphragm. A moveable condenser is adjustable, whereas a non-moveable has a fixed light focus. A condenser is most valuable at 1000x or higher.

Interpupillary Adjustment: The ability to adjust the spacing between the two eyepieces on a binocular microscope so it fits a person's interpupillary distance comfortably. The Seidentopf head allows for the best adjustment by just twisting the eyepieces.

Oil Immersion: A lens that requires a drop of special oil on the specimen for use. The oil is put on the cover slip, and the objective is actually lowered into the oil. Oil immersion lenses are sealed so they won't be damaged by the oil. Never lower a non-oil immersion lens into the oil. Our Observer IV and Revelation lines both have a 100x oil immersion lens.

Illumination: The light source, either natural or artificial, at the base of the microscope. All our illuminated microscopes are a cool fluorescent or halogen type which is safest for your specimens. (Regular tungsten lighting would create too much heat and kill some organisms!)

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