BRAINCAKELight Microscope
The light microscope (optical microscope) uses visible light focused by glass lenses. Light passes up through a thin specimen on a slide, then through the objective lens and the eyepiece lens. The total magnification is the product of the two:
total magnification = objective × eyepiece
so a ×40 objective with a ×10 eyepiece gives ×400.
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Key terms in this lesson
- resolution
- The smallest distance between two points that can still be seen as two separate points; higher resolution shows more detail.
More in Eukaryotic Cells
- Magnification and Resolution
- Electron Microscope
- Transmission Electron Microscope
- Scanning Electron Microscope
- Ultrastructure
- Membranes
- Phospholipid Bilayer
- Membrane Proteins
All 30 lessons in Eukaryotic Cells · All Edexcel AS-level Biology topics