Introduction to microscopes:

How does it work?

• A microscope works very much like a telescope.

• A telescope must gather light from a dim, far away object as depicted in Figure 9.06.

Figure 9.06: Schematic view of telescope working principle [4].

• So, it needs a large objective lens to gather as much light as possible and a long body to bring the image into focus.

• On the other hand, Unlike a telescope, a microscope must gather light from a tiny specimen that is located close-by as shown in Figure 9.07.

Figure 9.07: Schematic view of microscope.

• So the microscope does NOT need a large objective lens.

• Instead, the objective lens of a microscope is small.

• Then the image is again magnified by a second lens, called an eyepiece, as it is brought to your eye.

Ref.[4]. http://science.howstuffworks.com/telescope1.htm.