Category: June, 2010

The hemocytometer (counting chamber)

The hemocytometer (or haemocytometer or counting chamber) is a specimen slide which is used to determine the concentration of cells in a liquid sample. It is frequently used to determine the concentration of blood cells (hence the name “hemo-”) but also the concentration of sperm cells in a sample.

How to obtain the best resolution with your microscope

The resolution that a microscope is capable of achieving is probably the single most important factor that determines the quality of a microscopic image. Without a sufficiently high resolution, magnification is not possible without loss of quality. There are a variety of different factors that determine the achievable resolution. Some of these factors can not be actively influenced by the microscopist, others can. Some of the factors play a larger role, others a smaller one. In the following post, I want to summarize some of these factors.

Cover glass thickness and resolution

The thickness of the cover glass can have a significant impact on the resolution. The effect is highest with high-numeric aperture aperture (high magnification) objectives, and barely noticeable when using objectives of a low numeric aperture. Types of cover glasses Cover glasses come in all sorts of different sizes. I already wrote a post about [...]

Answering reader questions

And yet again it’s time to answer some reader questions What are the things that all types of microscopes have in common? Microscopes can be very different (see . I therefore limit the answer to light microscopes. Things that optical microscopes have in common include: Objectives, Oculars/eyepieces, stage (carries specimens), light source, focusing system. Does [...]