Re: How does a microscope work?

Lana,

A microscope is basically a two-part magnifying glass. Most of the time, when we refer to a microscope, we mean a compound microscope or an objective and an eyepiece mounted in a tube. The objective is the part that you can think of as a magnifying glass, or lens. The eyepiece is also kind of like a magnifying glass, but smaller, and serves to direct the light straight into your eye. In a typical compound microscope, these two lenses are mounted on either end of a tube like this:


where the eyepiece is located on the "eye end" of the figure and the objective is located at the "object end" (see the curved lens held in place by two black holders towards the object end of the tube?). That's really all there is to it! The objective lens focuses a magnified image of the object at exactly the focal length of the eyepiece lens. The magnified image is then directed by the eyepiece straight into your eye.

Many other types of microscopes exist and are used by scientists today. A list and description of some more examples can be found at Encyclopedia Britannica's web site under specialized microscopes. This article also contains links to more information on electron microscopes, acoustic microscopes, and scanning tunneling microscopes. And finally, if you're interested in learning more about the history and development of the microscope, I would suggest this site entitled, "History of the Light Microscope."

I hope that helps,
Amber