Activity 2

MAGNIFICATION WITH THE

MICROSCOPE

Introduction

Magnification is the process of causing an object or image to appear

larger than it really is. To figure the total magnification of an image that you
are viewing through the microscope is really quite simple. It can be estimated
by the method indicated below.

Objective

1. Determine the field of view of the objectives of the microscope

Materials

Microscopes, slides, cover slips, graphing paper, scissor

Procedure

1. Cut a small piece of a graphing paper.

2. Place the small piece graphing paper on the middle of the slide.
3. Position the slide so that one of the vertical divisions of the graphing paper is on
the left hand edge of the circular field of view.
4. Using LPO, count the number of division visible across the field of view, from
one side of the field to the other (the diameter).
5. Convert the visible number of divisions into millimeters (the divisions are 1mm
wide). This is the diameter of the LPO field of view.

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 6. The combined magnification produced by both eyepiece and objective lens is
equal to the product of those numbers.

e.g., Number of the eyepiece = 5x

Number of the objective lens = 10x

Magnification (diameter) = 5 x 10 = 50x

7. Record the combination of lenses used for LPO (≤ 100x) and HPO (> 100x) in the
given table.

8. To determine the diameter of the HPO field of view calculate the following:

a. magnification number of HPO / magnification number of LPO = X

b. diameter of LPO field of view / X = diameter of HPO field of view

9. Fill in the table below based on your computation from the microscope assigned
to you.
Lens combinations
Magnification
Power
Eyepiece (diameters)
Objective lens
lens
Low Power
1. 5x 10x 50x
2. 10x 10x 100x

High Power
1.
2.

Questions

1. Why is it important to center a specimen in the field of view before observing it

at HPO?

2. If you use the HPO, are you magnifying or limiting the area of your observation?
Why?

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Conclusion

References

F. Santiago, Z. Gerona, J. Reyes, Sr. M. Agravante, F. Hidalgo (1980)

Laboratory and Field Activities

Microsoft® Encarta® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights

reserved.

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