How to Handle a Light Microscope
- 1). Grip the microscope with two hands. Always carry a microscope by holding the base, never letting it dangle from the eyepiece.
- 2). Gently place the microscope on the lab bench. Plug it in.
- 3). Hold the glass slide in place by attaching the slide clamps, or fitting it into the slide holder. You may need to adjust it manually so that the part you want to look at is directly under the lens. Many microscopes also will have knobs to move the slide around.
- 4). Start with the lowest magnification. Look through the eyepiece, and adjust the lighting so that the background is bright but does not hurt your eyes.
- 5). Use the coarse focus knob to adjust the height of the lens while you look through the eyepiece. Stop when the image is clearest.
- 6). Adjust the image with the fine focus knob. Once you have found a specimen, you can switch from the "finding lens" which is usually around 4x, to a larger lens, such as 10x. Most light microscopes have multiple lenses that can be rotated into place. If it looks like the larger lens is going to hit the slide, lower the slide to avoid this.
- 7). Slowly turn the focus knobs until the image comes into focus under the new, higher magnification. If necessary, switch to an even higher magnification. Lenses of 97x or 100x are called oil-immersion lenses, and require that you look through a drop of oil to improve resolution. To use such a lens, use the applicator from a container of specialized lens oil and place a drop on the slide, then lower the lens until it is immersed. Clean the lens with a wipe afterward.
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