Category: Techniques

The home laboratory provides a safe working environment for microscopic investigations.

 

Here is an instruction on how to calculate the size of cells using a microscope.

 

There are several methods how bubbles can be reduced when making slides.

 

Cutting a carrot with a hand microtome.

 

This post explains how to make a wet mount. Video included!

 

Before specimens can be processed for making permanent slides, they may need to be fixed.

 

A hemocytometer or counting chamber is used to count cell density. Here I show you how this is done.

 

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.

 

The thickness of the cover glass can have a significant impact on the resolution.

 

Köhler illumination reduces stray light and therefore increases contrast when taking pictures.