You have seen them in most pictures of any biology laboratory, but do you know how to work them? Today, we will talk about how to do a microscope setup. The type of device we will be talking about is a standard compound microscope , which is available from most lab equipment manufacturers. You can almost surely see them in your school or college lab.

Using a microscope is fairly complicated and you will need to understand all the parts of a microscope to be able to properly handle them. You will also need to know exactly how a microscope works , otherwise you may end up seeing nothing or just a blur. Finally, you will have to take care of your microscope because it is a very expensive and delicate instrument!

How to Set Up a Microscope

When you have finished being familiar with a microscope, you can confidently process learning how to set it up properly. Make sure you have a clean, undisturbing surrounding, and that you won’t be suddenly pushed or your hand jolted.

Ready? Let’s go.

Step 1: Official Reference

First of all, even before you bring out your microscope, make sure that you have the official instruction manual close at hand. What we are describing here is a generic way of a microscope setup; but it is highly possible that your model may differ from a generic microscope. In that case, you will have to look up parts from the manual before you try adjusting a part of the ‘scope.

• Why not store the manual with the microscope in the same place, to begin with? That way, it will always be handy.
• If you can’t find the manual for some reason, chances are there will be some digital version of it available on the internet. If not, call the manufacturer.

Step 2: Place the Microscope

Understand that you are working with a very delicate piece of instrument. Therefore, you need a very stable footing for the microscope. Clear a part of your laboratory table or workbench so that there are no debris or objects nearby that can potentially harm the device. Wipe the area with some surface cleaner and dry it with a clean piece of cloth.

• Take the microscope out of its secure storing place by holding it by the Arm and the Base. Do not pick it up just by holding the arm, carry the weight through the base too.
• Carefully put the microscope down on the cleaned table surface. Do not slam it down or drop it.

Step 3: Prepare your Specimen

If you haven’t done it already, it’s time to prepare your specimen properly so that it is ready to examine under the microscope. 

• Place and prepare the specimen on a new, clean slide as required. 
• Don’t forget to add the necessary coloring or other materials that will enhance the visibility of the specimen. Refer to your lab instructor for directions on this.
• Place a coverslip on top of the specimen. This will make sure that the objective lens and the specimen does not accidentally touch.

Step 4: Set up the Lighting

Any viewing through a microscope needs proper lighting. Prepare that now so that there is enough light coming through the aperture.

• If your microscope has an electric illuminator, plug it in and turn it on. You may need to adjust the intensity if such controls are available.
• Most school lab microscopes would have a mirror above the base instead. Turn it carefully so that it reflects the environmental light on the diaphragm.

Step 5. Select Lowest Objective

The objective lenses should be mounted on the microscope’s nosepiece. In case they are detachable, you have to attach them first. Refer to your manual (or lab instructor) for instructions on how to attach objective lenses to the nosepiece.

• When all lenses are in place, rotate it gently so that the shortest lens is pointing directly down. This would generally be the lens with the smallest power (usually 4x). 
• This is done for two reasons. First, this way there will be enough space on top of the stage to mount your specimen slide properly. 
• Also, when first trying to view the specimen, it is always better to start from the lowest power magnification.
• Make sure that you don’t touch the lens itself even by accident; hold it only by the canister that houses it.

Step 6. Mount the Slide

It’s time to place your specimen under the microscope! The only way to do this is to place the slide on top of the stage and pin it down by the clips. 

• Put the slide in front of the raised end of the clip and push it inwards so that the specimen is directly over the aperture and under the objective, being lit from below. 
• Use the adjustment screws on the stage (if any) to precisely place the specimen’s viewable space (no larger than a dot) right under the objective lens.

Step 7. View the Specimen

Now you can see the specimen through the scope! The enlarged image is being created by the objective and oculus lenses working together, looking at the specimen right underneath. But since the microscope is not focused properly, for the time being, you will only see a blur when you look through the eyepiece.

• First, adjust the light amount by controlling the diaphragm slowly till your eye is comfortable with the brightness of the image you see through the eyepiece.
• Then rotate the coarse adjustment knob till you get close to as much clarity in the image.
• Now you can use the fine adjustment knob to adjust the image clearly till you get a perfect view.

Note: Be careful when using the coarse adjustment ‒ it can lower the objective so much that it may touch the slide, and with more turn, can damage the lens and the slide. Never let the objective lens touch the slide!

There you go, your microscope setup is complete now! You can now change the objectives to get more magnifications (further adjustments will be necessary when changing lenses), and get a sketch of the specimen.

Wrapping Up

If this is your first time using a microscope, you will be amazed at the beautiful micro world! There is no end to the odd and weird stuff that can be seen only through a microscope, and who knows ‒ you will see something totally new tomorrow.

Labkafe has some very good microscopes for sale ‒ you can look in our products section to find them. They are also a part of our biology lab packages (subject to board needs). We offer very competitive microscope prices, and we supply any Pincode throughout India and beyond.

The post How to do a Microscope Setup | Operating a Microscope | Labkafe appeared first on Labkafe Blog.

To know how to operate a thing, you need to intimately know the various operable parts of that thing. So, here are the standard compound microscope parts; we advise you to read this carefully and understand.

Structural Components

These parts are what hold up everything else of a device. They are the only sturdy parts of it, able to withstand some force. They do not move around (much) and are meant to stay solid and dependable.

Mechanical Parts

The microscope needs a lot of adjustment to bring an object into a clear view. For this reason, it has a lot of moving parts; and these parts fall into this category.

Optical Parts

These are the parts that create the image of the specimen that you will see at the end. They are the most delicate parts of a microscope and on no account should you ever touch them with your bare hands, or, god forbid, put any kind of force on them.

There you go, now you know everything that makes up a microscope. Read more:

• Working principle of a microscope
• How to set up a microscope
• Types of microscopes

If you have liked our explanation, please like and share it on your favorite social media! Remember, spreading knowledge only increases it.

Get a free lab consultation from the experts at Labkafe.

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So, let us learn about the basic Biology lab equipment that we can find in a school:

1. Safety apparatus: The foremost and most important thing to keep in mind is definitely the safety of the students and other people handling experiments in a lab. The safety apparatus consists of safety goggles, lab apron, and latex gloves. Shoes are a must and any kind of sandals or slippers should not be worn in the labs.

The safety goggles protect us from eye irritation that may arise from any chemical or fumes present there. In case of any accidental splashing of chemicals or acids, it also protects us from the blindness of the eyes.

 Lab aprons is worn to protect our body from splashing chemicals and acids. Further, it also helps us to protect our clothes while working in a lab.

The latex gloves are very useful in handling chemicals, acids, or any specimens to prevent direct contact of these chemicals with the bare hands and skin.

2. Microscope:

A microscope is a very basic and needful equipment of any lab. A simple light microscope (compound microscope) is the one, which is mostly seen in schools and colleges and it uses light and a series of magnifying lenses to observe a tiny specimen.

3. Test tubes and test tube racks: Test tubes are usually cylindrical pipes made up of glass, with a circular opening on one side and a rounded bottom on the other. They come in different sizes but the most common standard size is 18*150 mm.

Test tubes are one of the most important apparatus as they are functional from storing to mixing reagents in any chemical or biological reactions. They become very handy when a large number of samples need to be tested for qualitative assessment of any test.

The test tube rack is the equipment functional in holding the test tubes.

4. Dissecting tool kit: In school levels, for attending biology practical, students are instructed to bring their own dissecting tool kit which usually contains of a scalpel, pins, probes, scissors, a glass slide, a dissecting knife, coverslips, etc.

5. Hot plate: This equipment is used to heat materials in the lab, mostly glasswares and their contents. Some come up with magnetic stirrer, allowing the heated liquid to get stirred automatically. This stirring reduces the temperature of the glassware and it also slows down the rate of heat exchange thus encouraging even heating of the content.

6. Electronic balance: These weighing machines are used to find the mass of a specimen.

7. Forceps: They are helpful in picking up small objects.

8. Beakers: Beakers are cylindrical utensils made up of borosilicate glass, with a flat bottom and the upper opening having rim around it along with a spout. The spout on their rim’s aids in the proper pouring of solutions and they do not have any covering on the top. Most of the time watch glasses are used to cover their solutions. They are of varying sizes and are used to hold, heat, or mix substances with the proper measure. Although they come with graduated calibrations, they are not meant for precise calculations of solutions and as other apparatus come handy in this.

9. Conical flasks: Conical flask, also known as Erlenmeyer flask, is an apparatus having a flat bottom and a long narrow neck, which allows easy mixing of the solution without spilling out the content. Since the flask has a narrow long neck, it is also used to gently heat the content inside with a gentle swirling motion of the flask. The flask can also be covered using a rubber cap or cork.

One should always remember never to heat any flask with its cap on as it will lead to pressure and gas build up inside the closed flask and lead to explosions.

10. Evaporating dish: This equipment is used to evaporate liquids out of sample substances.

11. Funnels: Funnels are necessary equipment to pour substances and solutions in narrow-mouthed test tubes and conical flasks. There is a variety of its available, most common ones are filter, thistle, and dropping funnels.

12. Graduated cylinders: These are some cylindrical apparatus with several markings up and down the length of the container with the primary function dealing with proper measurement of a specific volume of liquid with precision. While taking readings, one needs to be careful to take into consideration the reading with respect to the meniscus of the liquid.

13. Droppers and pipettes:

 The dropper, also known as Pasteur pipette, is usually made up of plastic or glass cylinder, having a small nozzle on one side and a rubber holder on the other. It is used to put the liquids or solutions in any medium dropwise, that is, one drop at a time, a necessary equipment when any reagent is required in a precise amount in a solution.

Pipettes are of varying sizes, designed for titration experiments wherein chemicals are mixed in specific volume. These are narrow glass cylindrical pipes, used for measuring an exact volume of liquid and placing it into another container.

14. Dissecting pan: One of the most discussed biology practicals in higher classes is regarding the dissection experiment performed on cockroaches or frogs. This equipment is used as a pan on which the specimen is kept while it is being dissected to study its internal organs.

15. Glass slides and coverslips: Varieties of glass slides are available which are used for observation purposes of very small specimens. The microscope slides are used to support an item being examined under the microscope.

Then, there are depression glass slides with a concavity on one surface for better ground support to the specimen.

The coverslips are used to cover specimens on the glass slide to protect from further addition of any chemical or dirt and also to give better view under the microscope.  

16. Inoculating loops and petri dishes: The inoculating loop is a small apparatus that is used to spread bacteria on a petri dish or a glass slide.

The petri dish are small glass plates with a glass cover and they are used to culture micro-organisms inside.

17. Spatulas and scopulas: These laboratory spatulas are very much similar to the kitchen like spatulas found in our home but they are just very smaller in size in comparison. The spatulas are usually resistant to heat and acids, hence making them suitable for large range use in the laboratory experiments.

18. Thermometer: Every lab is equipped with a basic thermometer as many a time, certain chemical or biological reaction can be carried out in any particular temperature range only and so to proceed, the thermometer becomes very necessary to measure the temperature of the required solution before moving forward with further reaction procedure.

19. Bunsen burner or alcohol burner: This apparatus produces a single open flame and it is used for heating and sterilization purposes in the various experiments conducted in labs.

20. Litmus and filter papers:

These two cannot be called apparatus in a proper way, but they serve as one of the most important and basic things that will be required in any kind of laboratories. The litmus paper serves to identify the pH of any solution by changing colors whereas, the filter paper helps in the filtration process.

These are the basic 20 Biology Lab equipment that one can witness in any school or college biology labs. Other than these, one will also get to see wash bottles, stirring rods, stopwatch, weighing balance or brushes to clean test tubes. As these apparatuses serve the basic, every student must get familiar with all this equipment and their working to have safe and sound practical experiment experiences in High school biology laboratories.

About Labkafe: Lab Equipment Manufacturer & Exporter

We are a School laboratory furniture and Lab equipment manufacturer and supplier. In laboratory furniture for school, we first design the entire laboratory room keeping in mind the requirements as per affiliation CBSE Bye-Laws. Also, we take care of the complete designing and installation of laboratory furniture.

In the lab equipment section, we have a wide range of glassware, chemicals, equipment and other lab accessories. Most of them are available for order online on our website but some of them can be procured on demand.

If you have need:-

• laboratory equipment or lab furniture requirements for school
• composite lab equipment list for school
• Physics lab equipment list for school
• Chemistry lab equipment list for
• Biology lab equipment list for school
• Pharmacy lab equipment

do drop a message through chat or mail us at sales@labkafe.com or call +919007218364 and we’ll get in touch with you.

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