The term "light microscope" is a general term that needs a bit of clarification. Just about all microscopes use a light source to illuminate the sample or specimen. This is why they are called light microscopes.

There are several types of light microscopes including simple (single lens) optical microscopes, compound (several lenses) microscopes, stereomicroscopes and digital microscopes. Light microscopes have varying levels of magnification available. With the exception of the stereomicroscope, these usually have a magnification range somewhere between 20X and 1500X. The stereomicroscopes have a lower magnification range of between 20X and 200X due to the fact that they are used primarily to study the surfaces of larger specimens.

In a nutshell, here is a list of the parts of a light microscope.

1. The base is just that: a base that the microscope stands on and allows it to be free standing.

2. The stage is where the sample or specimen slide is placed. There are two metal clips that hold the slide in place.

3. On the stage is a small opening in the center called an aperture. The sample is situated over the aperture for viewing and is held by the clip son the stage.

4. Below the stage is the light source. This is simply a small light bulb that shines upwards through the aperture, thus illuminating the sample. Some microscopes have a diaphragm in the stage that controls how much light is passed through the aperture. NOTE: Stereomicroscopes use two light sources to produce a 3D image to the viewer. The light source can be situated above the stage as in the case of digital microscopes. These microscopes are called inverted microscopes.

5. Directly above the stage is the nosepiece that contains the lenses used to magnify the sample. The nosepiece holds the lenses. The nosepiece rotates so the viewer can select the one they want to use.

6. The lenses, also called objectives, are held by the nosepiece and have different magnification powers, usually from 2X to 15X or 20X.

7. The arm seems to connect the base to the upper parts of the microscope. It is used to carry the microscope.

8. The coarse adjustment knob is located on the side of the microscope. It is used to focus the sample. This knob can move either the stage or the upper parts of the scope.

9. The fine adjustment knob is also located on the side of the scope. This is used to fine-tune the focus after the coarse adjustment has brought the sample into view.

10. The body or tube holds the eyepiece(s) and connects it to the nosepiece lenses.

11. The eyepiece is what you look into. The eyepiece has a magnifying power of approximately 10X.

So now you know all the parts of the microscope, you can intelligently tell your friends all about it. Knowing what the microscope's parts are helps the user to be more comfortable their first time out. It also helps if you need to order replacement parts later on.

Research Includes Work to Reduce Petroleum Dependence and Better Air
Quality SAN DIEGO, March 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The University of San
Diego Chemistry and Biochemistry Department have been awarded more than than $2
million in finances from the National Science Foundation and other private
foundations. The finances will back up research that could cut down the United
State's dependance on crude oil and better air quality. (Logo: ) USD Assistant Professor of Chemistry Simon Peter Iovine received the
prestigious $475,000 career Award from the National Science Foundation. The
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is the NSF's top awarding in
support of the early career-development activities of those
teacher-scholars World Health Organization most effectively incorporate research and education. The awarding will back up work in the survey of dendrimers, perfectly
branched polymeric molecules with possible applications as new materials,
drug bringing agents and enzyme mimics. One aim of the grant is to
use "sticky-ended" dendrimers to chemically modify a renewable material
called lignin. By attaching the "sticky-ended" dendrons, Iovine trusts to
create novel synthetic loanblend stuffs that could be used as an
eco-friendly plastic. "If the ends are achieved, the work may impact our
reliance on foreign oil by reducing the demand for traditionally synthetic
polymers derived from petrochemicals," he says. Associate Professor of Chemistry Saint David Delaware Haan, have received a major
research grant of $310,000 from the NSF, funded through the Research in
Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) Faculty Research Projects programme and
NSF's Directorate of Geosciences. His research focuses on the interactions between dicarbonyl compounds
-- such as as glyoxal -- and Zanzibar copals triggered by droplet evaporation. Dicarbonyl chemical compounds are believed to lend to the formation of haze in
the atmosphere. Since the major beginning of glyoxal over Southern
California's skies is from constituents of unburned evaporated gasoline,
DeHaan's research may propose a manner to cut down haze in the part through
gasoline reformation. The Chemistry and Biochemistry Department was also awarded a $500,000 Department Development awarding from the Tucson, Ariz.-based Research
Corporation that volition be matched by finances from USD for a $1 million-plus
investment in scientific discipline and an awarding of nearly $600,000 from the Henry Luce
Foundation to set up the Clare Booth Henry Henry Luce Professorship in chemical science and
biochemistry. The Research Corp.'s awarding is one of lone six national awardings made by
the foundation in the last 10 old age and required extended rating and
site visits, along with a five-year development plan. "It's wish winning a national championship," states Seth Thomas Herrinton, USD
Associate Provost and chemical science mental faculty member. With the completion in 2003
of the state-of-the-art Donald P. Shiley Center for Science and Technology
and outstanding faculty, USD is carving a niche as a comprehensive,
national university that not only offers but necessitates research
opportunities for undergraduate pupils in chemical science and biochemistry. "We
want the University of San Diego to be among the best topographic points to analyze and
practice chemical science and biochemistry at the undergraduate level," he says. About the University of San Diego The University of San Diego is a Catholic establishment of higher
learning chartered in 1949; the school enrolls some 7,500 pupils and is
known for its committedness to teaching, the broad arts, the formation of
values and community service. The startup of the Joan B. Kroc School
of Peace Studies will convey the University's sum figure of schools and
colleges to six. Other academic divisions include the College of Humanistic Discipline and
Sciences and the schools of Business Administration, Leadership and
Education Sciences, Law and Nursing and Health Sciences.

Poudre Valley Health System announced today that it bes after to open up a medical health and fitness centre in Water Valley, northern Colorado's Prime Minister resort-style community located in Windsor. This volition be the first medical health and fitness centre in northern Colorado.

The 2-story centre will offer physical therapy and cardiac rehabilitation for patients; social classes on health care; wellness counseling; watering place services; orthopedic care; radiology; and exercising chances with fitness equipment and a curative pool.

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In addition, medical business office space will be available for doctors who pattern forte or primary care.

Rulon Stacey, PVHS president and CEO, said Windsor is an ideal scene for a medical health and fitness centre owed to the community's location in the epicentre of northern Colorado's rapid population growth. "Our end is to offer high-quality health attention that is easily accessible," he said. "The unparalleled quality and handiness of Water Valley and its beautiful scene add good dimensions that volition complement the medical health and fitness center." St Martin Lind, Water Valley's proprietor and president, said the PVHS presence will be a valuable improver to the community. "Having a medical and wellness icon like PVHS believe and put in Water Valley solidifies our vision and slogan of "Life's Better Here!," Jenny Lind said. "The medical health and fitness center, combined with our existent vacation spot atmosphere, will turn out to be a regional finish for those seeking medical-based life style changes," he continued. "In improver to the obvious profit for Water Valley residents, the centre will benefit all of northern Colorado. Water Valley could very well go the Broadmoar of the North by offering world-class wellness, golf game and a vacation spot atmosphere." The medical health and fitness centre volition be the centre piece of Water Valley's Marina Plaza undertaking that will soon get development in the 1,500-acre Water Valley community. Water Valley encompasses five lakes; Pelican Lakes Golf Course and Country Club; and residential countries where about 3,000 people reside. Plans for the Marina Plaza include a hotel and conference center, retail space, salon and spa, restaurant, and business office composite in improver to the medical health and fitness center. Construction of the medical health and fitness center, now in the early designing stage, is expected to get later this year. The centre is slated to open up in the autumn of 2009. PVHS will rent about 16,000 foursquare feet of the Marina Plaza to house the medical health and fitness services, and another 9,000 foursquare feet will be occupied by doctor offices.Stacey said the centre will work closely with doctors who inhabit medical business office space there. "Physicians will be able to mention patients to the centre for rehabilitation, wellness social classes and other services," he said. "This volition be a important convenience for patients."Stacey said other medical wellness and fitness centres in the U.S. have got establish that clients be given more than than often to be grownups who prefer the installations rather than more traditional health clubs. "Medical wellness and fitness centres compound the outpatient attention from rehab centres and primary and forte attention suppliers with the bar and educational facets of a health club—all inch one location," he said. "Very often aged grownups who desire to status their organic structures or experience rehabilitation feel more comfy at a medical health and fitness centre because of the medical presence there."