MICROSCOPY GUIDE

Before you begin using a microscope, there are some general rules to follow which will help you maintain your equipment and make it easier to use.

Basic Rules for Microscopy 

• Always use both hands when carrying a microscope.
• Use only lens paper for cleaning the lenses. Lens paper is specially designed to prevent scratching and will not remove the coating from coated lenses.
• Do not touch the lenses with your fingers. Oils from your skin are difficult to remove.
• Always be sure the microscope is turned off before it is unplugged.
• The lowest power objective should be in place whenever you begin and when you are through.
• Do not force any knobs that seem stuck. 
• Leave the microscope clean when you are finished with it.
• Cover your microscope to prevent dust collection on the lenses and other surfaces.
• Use the stage controls to move your slide beneath the objective lens.

If you have a compound microscope, which has a number of objective lenses, always start at the lowest objective, focus, then move up to the next objective. Compound microscopes will allow you to visualize a range of different cells and microscopic organisms of varying sizes. 

The compound microscope contains several lenses that have various magnifications. In most cases, the 10X or 40X objective will be adequate for viewing cells. For Bacteria and Archaea, however, you must use a very powerful 100X lens, which is likely to be an oil immersion lens. These cells are too tiny to view at the lower magnifications. The eyepieces generally also have a 10X magnification, so you must multiply this magnification by the objective lens magnification to get the total magnification. For example, if you are viewing tardigrades with the 40X objective lens and the 10X eyepiece, the total magnification will be 400X.  

To look for tardigrades in moss, follow this procedure below.