Observing plant cell through light microscope

Name of the Experiment:

Observing plant cell through light microscope.

Aim:
The aim of this experiment is to observe a plant cell and knowing all of its parts. By doing this experiment one can also learn the uses of a microscope.

Principles:
1. The object that is too small to be seen with the unaided eye should be seen with the microscope. 2. The lens of the microscope forms a clearly focused image that is many times larger than the specimen itself. 3. Light from an illuminator pass through the condenser that directs the light through the object. It illuminates the object and its field. 4. The image of the specimen magnified by the objective lens and the eyepiece. Multiplying the individual magnifications of the objective (10x, 40x, 100x) and eyepiece (10x) determine the total magnification of a microscope.

Materials:
1. Microscope 2. Plant cell 3. Lens oil

Methods:
1. Take a plant cell on a slide. 2. Use lens oil if necessary. 3. Place it on the microscope stage and attach it with the stage clips. 4. Then adjust the objective lens by looking through the eyepiece and using coarseadjustment knobs. 5. Rotate the diaphragm to give the maximum amount of light. Adjust the light of the illuminator to get a good image. 6. Look carefully through the eyepiece of the microscope and at the same time try to adjust the light and objective lenses to get the best image of the plant cell.

Discussion:
Doing this experiment we have learnt different parts of a microscope and its use. We have also known how to operate it and we observed a plant cell through it. Following is the details and the things we learned regarding this experiment: Results: From this experiment we have came to know that the single plant cell has a lot of things inside it. We cannot see the whole part of the cell because light microscope has some limitations. Even one with perfect lenses and perfect illumination, simply cannot be used to distinguish objects that are smaller than half the wavelength of light. Thus we can see some important parts of an object through light microscope. Following is a picture showing a plant cell:

This picture shows all of the parts of a plant cell. But with a light microscope we cannot see all of these parts. We can see the dark green wall, which is called the cell wall. We can also see the vacuole, which is in the middle of the cell. The others parts might not be seen with a light microscope.

Lens Oil: Lens oil is known as the immersion oil, which is used to increase the resolution of a microscope. It helps to view objects with the greatest magnification.

Different parts of a Microscope:

1.

Eyepiece: the image of the object is seen through the eyepiece. The magnifying power of the ocular lens is 10x or 15x power.

2.

Body tube: holds nosepiece at one end and eyepiece at the other end; conducts light rays.

3. 4.

Arm: Supports upper parts and provides carrying handle. Objective lenses: help to see the image more clearly by multiplying its power with the power of the eyepiece.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Coarse-adjustment knob: Knob used to bring object into approximate focus. Fine-adjustment knob: it is used to bring object into final focus. Diaphragm: Controls amount of illumination used to view the object. Light source: An attached lamp that directs a beam of light up through the object. Base: The flat surface of the microscope that rests on the table. Stage: Holds and supports microscope slides.

Uses of Microscope: Microscope is used for observing the small objects that cannot be seen with unaided eyes. Unlike this plant cell, there are a lot of things we cannot see with our naked eyes but with a microscope we can see some of the main parts of it. Microscope is an important instrument of science. It is used almost in every researches of natural science.

Different kinds of Light Microscope: There are four kinds of light microscope. They are: 1. Bright field microscope: in this microscope, the sample is illuminated from the back. 2. Dark field microscope: in this microscope, the field around the specimen is generally dark. 3. Phase-contrast microscope: it enhances contrasts of transparent and colorless objects by influencing the optical path of light. 4. Fluorescence microscope: it lets excitation light radiate the sample and then sort out the much weaker emitted light to make up the image of the object.