GENERAL BIOLOGY 1

G11-STEM
Laboratory Manual
VIRTUAL LABORATORY
EXERCISES #1

COMPOUND MICROSCOPE

Objectives:
● To study the parts of
compound microscope
● To learn to use
compound microscope
properly
● Identify it parts and
functions

[Link]

In the end of the laboratory period, you should know the parts of a microscope and how to
determine total magnification. 

Mechanical Parts

1. Base
It is a horse shoe-shaped
structure that provides sta-
bility and support to the
microscope.
2. Pillar
It is a vertical pro-jection
fixed with hinge to the foot
(base).
3. Arm
It is curved and sup¬ports
body tube and is used for
handling the microscope.
4. Inclination joint
It is the point where arm is
attached to pillar and this
permits tilting of
microscope to adjust to eye
level.
5. Stage
Stage is rectangular flat
metallic plate fixed to the
lower end of arm. It has a
 hole in centre for the light to reach the object. It is used for keeping the object to be
observed.
6. Clips
Two clips on stage help in holding the slide.
7. Diaphragm
It is present below the stage and regulates the entry of light on to the slide. Diaphragm may
be disc diaphragm and iris diaphragm.
8. Body tube
It is hollow tube which is attached to upper part of the arm. It can move up and down with
the help of screws.
9. Nosepiece
It is the circular metallic piece attached to lower end of body tube. It is fitted with three
objective lens having different magnifications.
10. Coarse adjustment screw
This can move body tube up and down for focussing
11. Fine adjustment screw
This is small-size screw needed for fine adjustments.

Optical Parts

1. Mirror
It is used for reflecting light into the microscope and is located at lower end of the arm,
below the stage. It is concave on one side and plane on the other.
2. Eyepiece
It is lens fitted at the top of body tube. It can be of 10 X or 15 X magnification.
3. Objective lenses
These are attached to nosepiece. Usually, objectives with magnification lOx (low power)
and 45 X (high power) are available to the students.

Magnification

The magnifying power of the ocular and objective lenses used on the microscope is usually
engraved on the lens.

The magnification of the ocular lens is 10X or ten times magnification.

There are three objective lenses shown on this microscope. You can magnify the image and
move around to see the magnification engraved on each lens.

The lowest power lens on this microscope is 4X magnification. It is often referred to as

the scanning lens and should be used first when viewing a new specimen. On this
microscope the scanning lens has a red band around it to make it easy to identify.

The next highest magnification is the 10X lens also called the low power lens. It has a
yellow band.

The highest power dry lens is the 40X lens. It has a blue band.

 Some microscopes will have additional higher power objective lenses (for example 100 X).
These lenses require that a drop of immersion oil be placed between the lens and the
specimen.

Calculation: Ocular lens x Objective Lens

To calculate the total magnification, multiply the power of the ocular lens times the power of the
objective lens you are using. (Formula: Ocular lens x Objective lens = total magnification)

Calculate total magnification using a 10 X ocular lens and the various objective lenses.

Types of Objective Magnification of Magnification of Total times

lens Ocular Lens (10x) Objective lens Magnification

Oil immersion 10 x 100 x 1000x

power

Low power (LPO)

High power (HPO)

Scanning lens

Field of View

Sometimes it is necessary to determine the size of the object that you are viewing under the
microscope. There is an easy way for you to estimate the size. If you know the diameter of the
field you are seeing in the microscope, you can estimate the size of the object you are viewing.

You will do this more simply by placing a piece of graph paper on a microscope slide and viewing
it under the microscope. Each box on the paper is 1mm square, but for microscopy, millimetres
are too large of a unit of measure. Microscope objects are measured in micrometers.

1mm= 1000 micrometers (um)

Let’s try: Measuring field Diameter

Using scanning lens (40x total magnification), estimate the field

diameter in micrometers.

Each block on the graph paper is 1 mm wide.

It takes about 4.2 blocks to go across the diameter of the

field.

4.2 mm = 4200 micrometers

For example, if the eyepiece reads 10x/18, and the magnification of your objective lens is 40,
multiply 10 and 40 to get 400. Then divide 18 by 400 to get an FOV diameter of 0.045
millimeters.

0.045 mm x 1000 um/mm 🡪 45 um (micrometers)

Image Formation

A compound microscope works on the principle that when a tiny object to be magnified is placed
just beyond the focus of its objective lens, a virtual, inverted and highly magnified image of the
object is formed at the least distance of distinct vision from the eye held close to the eye piece.

II. Virtual Laboratory Exercise

Open the link below for a virtual laboratory activity/exercise, so that you can have a better
understanding and application of what you learned. Do the first part of the laboratory –
Microscope. Get a good grasp of the lesson before answering the post assessment test at
google classroom to measure how much you gained from the lesson:
� [Link]

[Link] Assessment Test

Answer the test: Compound Microscope at google classroom.

Identifying the parts of the microscope.

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References:
Photo source from [Link]
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zone/Physics/OpticalInstruments/[Link]#[Link]
Virtual Lab: [Link]
GENERAL BIOLOGY 1
G11-STEM
Laboratory Manual
VIRTUAL LABORATORY EXERCISES #2

CELLULAR STRUCTURE
Objectives:
● To review the main parts
of the cell
● Observe the animal, plant
and bacterial cell in virtual
microscope
● Know the difference
between prokaryotes and
eukaryotes.

At the end of the laboratory,

you should be able to recognize
the organelles in a plant and an
animal cell and recall the
functions of each. You should
also know the stains that you
used and what they stained.
Introduction:

As you will find in this course,

there is no such thing as a
"typical" cell. During this period
you will look at four "representative" eukaryotic cells: two plant cells (one with chloroplasts that
are easy to focus on, and one without chloroplasts that will be more challenging), one animal cell,
and one example of a single-celled organism. In each case you will try to locate as many
organelles as you can. You will also examine a prepared slide of some prokaryotic bacterial cells.
Your module is an excellent reference, so you may want to refer to it during this exercise.

II. Virtual Laboratory Exercise

Open the link below for a virtual laboratory activity/exercise, so that you can have a better
understanding and application of what you learned. Do the second part of the laboratory – Cells.
Get a good grasp of the lesson before answering the post assessment test at google classroom
to measure how much you gained from the lesson:
� [Link]

[Link] Assessment Test

Answer the test: CELL types and structures @ google classroom.
Examining the cell types and identifying its structure
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Referene: [Link]