MicrobeHunter.com Microscopy Forum

A few weeks ago I purchased an AmScope MU-500 camera to use on my son's AmScope SM-2T Stereo Microscope and I was very disappointed in the quality of the images considering the cost of the camera. The focusing was awful and the software was very limited so I ended up returning the camera. Does anyon...

Well, maybe focus only on the 'from more moves to less' idea, perhaps imagine; a dry-sponge dipped into lots of water in a glass will 'suck-in' the water because it has less water than the glass, the now damp sponge will then lose water when touched against a dry tissue etc as the tissue has less w...

Thank you, great explanations and certainly ones that I can understand. However I need to re-state the concept in simpler terms (if at all possible) since my son and I are doing this for his 4th grade science project. We basically want to explain why water leaves the cells and moves into the saltwat...

There are a large number of things you can do, for instance, transparent insect wings and bee stings can be embedded in balsam without intermediate processes. Okay....what other things can I mount without intermediate processes? We do have a microtome that we haven't used yet. I basically just want...

Checking back in again.... We tried using a concave slide today but that gave us unexpected results. First of all we could not see the cell walls when the specimen was placed in the well (without any water in the well). Secondly, when we added a drop of salt water all the specimen did was float in t...

Wow, this is really starting to sound so complicated (for a beginner) to comprehend. My son just wanted to make various plant cross-section samples (with his new microtome), maybe insects and other things of interest. The company I got the balsam from only said to add a drop with a disposable pipett...

You do not need a scale to measure the amount of salt, or any other expensive equipment. You do need a graduated cylinder to measure the volume of water. This is all. 1. Make a saturated NaCl solution, let's say 300ml. This will give you a bit more than you need. The water should be room temperatur...

It is hypertonic because the water binds to the salt ions and there is therefore less freely moving water available. Water will therefore move into this region. That's the type of explanation I was looking for. Can you give me a simpler explanation so that I can explain it to my son? Couple of othe...

I'm still getting wrapped around the axle here. The water moves out of cells because it is more concentrated in the cells than it is in the saltwater solution?

zzffnn wrote:Yes, your concavity slide will work, for your purpose.

Just a thought...won't this result in a floating specimen? I might have to make the specimen larger than a 1 cm square in that case.

Hi Njitgrad, I will try to answer your questions: 1. Yes. 2. Into the salt solution. 3. I'm not sure what you are asking here. 4. There are more ions in the salt solution than are dissolved in the cells cytoplasm therefor water is drawn from the cell. 5. It is the cell membrane. Regarding #3, since...

Hi njitgrad, I use an excellent Canada-Balsam replacement that is permanent and also used I believe by the British Natural History Museum for their collections. It's called 'Numount' and is superb for both clarity and permanence. It's solvent is a 'limone' based solvent (made from the oil from the ...

Just learned some more information (from this site actually) that permanent slide making is not as straightforward as I thought it was..... Canada Balsam: This is a natural mounting medium obtained from the balsam fir tree (Abies balsamea). The optical properties are nearly identical with those of g...

What type of solvent? Benzene, xylene, or toluene. Hope this helps. Peter. Never used any of these. Can you recommend a site where I can buy in small quantity? How exactly do you apply/use it to clean the balsam? Sorry for all the questions but I can't find a good video tutorial that shows how perm...

I have a few questions that relates to an experiment I am performing. It involves studying plasmolysis in red onion cells. From what I have gathered, plasmolysis is defined as the process in which cells lose water in a hypertonic solution. 1) Is it a true statement to say that plasmolysis is a side ...

That glass rod will work, I use any thing I can lay my hands on at the time, cocktail stick, back end of the tweezers anything that won't put muck in the mountent or you will be looking at it every time you look at a slide. Dave Does balsam just wipe off the glass rod? Or does it have to be washed ...

You could try this. Your diaphragm has a series of hole in it instead of an iris with metal leaves that can make one hole larger or smaller. I don't know how many holes your diaphragm has, but put it near the middle hole. focus the scope on your specimen. Now move the diaphragm to each smaller hole...

Flat well slide like this will work: http://www.amazon.com/Slides-Carolina-Deep-Well-Set-5/dp/B002WTND2O You can DIY too, using aluminum foil as well sides and glue them onto slide with silicone glue. I actually purchased a small package of concavity slides last week. Will that work? http://www.hom...

zzffnn wrote:I suggest reading yourself, if you want to know exactly why. It will save you and me time, if you just take it from me. I have professional experience with microscopes and a PhD in microbiology.

You mean save time by omitting a cover slip?

Here is the video of Plasmolysis (sped up by a factor of 4X): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7p3xrEGSyA Here is the reversal of the process (normal speed): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ysre_yZ1vlU The reversal process ended up being performed by removing the coverslip, gently absorbing the salt...

Up to and including objective NA of 0.25 (usually 10x), you do not have to use cover slips. And such objective can tolerate a FLAT water layer of 1mm or a little more, without much optical degradation. Your 4x has NA of 0.1, so it is even more tolerant. You can make a flat well slide and put your o...

billbillt wrote:I think these turned out very well!..
BillT

Thanks for the encouragement. Despite the messy protocol we followed we still did manage to get great snapshots for first-timers. We even managed to create a video of the process. I will try to post it later.

What objective lens did you use for those "160x" photos? 16x objective and 10x eyepiece? For 16x objective and when high resolution is not required (your application does not need that much resolution), you do not need cover slip. We used a 4X objective. AmScope told me the eyepiece on the MD serie...

The before/after images...

We started experimenting today and had some success. It was not pretty (the procedure part of it) but we saw plasmolysis occuring. The before/after screen captures are in the next post in this thread. We were able to reverse the process as well. The following is a list of issues we encountered.... 1...

Will this glass rod work for my purposes? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009R8AZXI?keywords=glass%20stirring%20rod&qid=1455915206&ref_=sr_1_6&sr=8-6 Or should I just use disposable pipettes? That glass rod will work, I use any thing I can lay my hands on at the time, cocktail stick, back end of ...

Will this glass rod work for my purposes?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009R8 ... 1_6&sr=8-6

Or should I just use disposable pipettes?

This is what I found, but you can choose whatever you like. Plastic graduated cylinders are cheap, but do not measure out organic solvents with them (what you do not intend to do anyway for this experiment). http://www.amazon.com/Piece-Set-Graduated-Cylinders-Scientific/dp/B00EEIFR16/ref=sr_1_3?s=i...

3. Pure water, no salt, to give you the 0% solution. 2. Take 25ml of the 100% salt stock solution and add 75ml water. This gives you the 25% solution. The total volume is 100ml. 3. Take 50ml of the 100% salt stock solution and add 50ml water. This gives you the 50% solution. The total volume is 100...

rnabholz wrote:Yes, always clean everything up when you are done. Depending on the material you are cutting, you may find that you need to clean the blade and microtome table at some point in the middle of the process.

Just rinse under water and prop the microtome on a towel at an angle to dry?