A Loupe is a type of magnifier that will enable the user to scrutinize even the smallest details by increasing the focus to a closer distance when being viewed by the eye. Loupes are a form of a tailored microscope. Loupes are used in quite a few different industries; most commonly the Jewelry trade, photography, dentistry, printing and ophthalmology. There are some large name manufactures of loupes, Bausch & Lomb, Nikon, Pentax, Barska and Carson just to name a few. My favorite is the Barska Anchormaster Magnifier AR10858. This set is an elegant addition to a desk or a personal library setting. The glass is crystal clear and is very high quality. The brass is shiny and provides a feeling of days gone by. If you are in any of the common trades listed above, you can't go wrong with this set!

If you have a sample that you cannot see under the microscope such as a cell; it is because most cells appear transparent under the microscope. Stains are used to illuminate certain parts of a specimen under a slide. They can also be used to expose certain parts of a specimen on a slide. Gram's stain is a widely used method of staining bacteria as an aid to their identification. The Gram Stain was created by Hans Christian Joachim Gram, a Danish bacteriologist in 1844. Gram's method of stain was crystal violet. The microorganisms that retain the crystal violet iodine under the microscope appear purple brown in color. Gram's method of staining is categorized as gram positive or gram non-negative. Other microorganisms that are not stained by crystal violet are categorized as gram negative. Staining techniques are useful in distinguishing the presence or nonexistence of certain cell components. What this does is allow the lab technician to make a distinction or identification of microorganisms.

Hey kids! Try this one for your next Science Fair project! Do you own a light microscope? If so this will be the experiment for you! You will need to purchase a container of plain yogurt with active cultures, some microscope slides & cover slips, distilled water and a dropper. To get started you will need to set up your light microscope and have your materials close by. You will want to clean your microscope slides from any dust or particles first. Place a drop of your favorite brand of yogurt onto the slide, and one drop of distilled water, place the cover slip on top. Under low power find a section of your yogurt sample where it is most thin; this is where you will find bacteria! For a better view make sure you switch the power on your microscope to 400X. If you have a microscope with an oil immersion lens, it will give you an even better view of these small organisms. You will want to make a sketch of what you see under different magnifications. How many types of different types of bacteria could you find? What other foods have living bacteria in them? These are some of the findings you can report back on to your Science Fair Enthusiasts! This is a great first Science Fair Project! Good Luck!

In light microscopy, oil immersion is a technique used to increase the resolution of a microscope. This can be accomplished by submerging the objective lens and the specimen in a transparent oil of high refractive index, increasing the numerical orifice of the objective lens. Immersion Oils are transparent oils that will have a high viscosity. Immersion oil has been created so that its refractive index is identical to that of glass. When light passes from a material of one refractive index to material of another , as from glass to air or from air to glass, it bends. Light at different wavelengths bends at different angles, so that the objects are magnified and the images become less noticeable.

A Microscope slide was originally called a "slider" first made of ivory or bone, containing specimens held between disks of transparent mica (a rock forming mineral). These were popular in Victorian England until the Royal Microscopical Society introduced the standardized microscope slide in the form of a thin sheet of glass used to hold objects for examination under a microscope. There are a wide variety of microscope slides, but the standard size is a 3" X 1" and about 1.0 mm thick. Different sizes are available for different purposes. The "specimen" that is to be viewed is usually placed on the middle of the slide with another, much thinner square, circle, or rectangular glass piece placed over the specimen. This piece of glass is called a cover slip or cover glass. The cover glass has a dual purpose. It protects the mircrscope's objective lens from contacting the specimen, and it creates an even thickness for your viewing. The thickness of a cover slip is very important for high-resolution microscopy.

Polarized Light are light waves which are uniformly aligned in one direction. Polarized microscopes improve image contrast and quality. A perfect microscope for a quantitative , transmitted, polorized light application is the LOMO POLAM^tm-L 213 Series Microscope. This microscope can be configured for both research and routine applications, as well as for teaching environments. Darkfield is an illumination method used to examine specimens which cannot be distinguished from the background. Components include a dry darkfield condenser for low magnifications and any low magnification objectives. An oil darkfield condenser is used for higher magnifications. Higher magnification oil objectives must have an iris. For a live blood microscopy application a Darkfield microscope is just as effective as an inverted metallurgical microscope. A perfect microscope for live blood microscopy would be the LOMO Laborascope LA-MI-AL-3000 Trinocular Microscope. This microscope is perfect for the lab and clinical applications. This microscope offers all of the advantages of the contrast techniques-Brightfield, Phase Contrast, Darkfield, and Epi-Fluorescence. It is an excellent choice for Photomicrography. Brightfield is an illumination method in which light is reflected off the specimen and passed through the objective to the eyepieces. A perfect addition to your laboratoy is the LOMO Invertoscope Series microscopes.The LOMO a LA-MI-INVERTOSCOPE has all of the contrast techniques-for your application, such as Brightfield, Phase Contrast and Polarization. In this series of Brightfield microscopes an additional contrast technique to consider may be DIC. Whichever microscope that you select from the LOMO collection you can expect nothing but the very best in Optics performance. You will want to have this microscope in your lab. Remember not with everything but with most things in life you get what you pay for!

Full featured double rainbow in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska Source: English Wikipedia Polarized light is; an electromagnetic wave which travels through the vacuum of outer space. Light waves are produced by vibrating electric charges. An electromagnetic wave is a oblique wave which has both an electric and a magnetic component. Is the light from a rainbow polarized? Absolutely! Rainbows are the most unique displays that can be seen in the sky. We all love a rainbow after a rain shower! We love a rainbow for all of its colors and how it magically appears in the sky, and somewhere at the end of that rainbow is a pot o gold! When you find it let me know. A rainbow has a perfect geometrical shape to it set in the background of fluffy clouds. The reason that a rainbow will appear after a rain shower is that the drops of water alter the course of a wave of energy (light) that passes into the air and reflects the sun rays; from the sun backwards at 42deg from the incoming rays. The rainbow is then seen in a direction opposite of the sun as a circle of that radius, an angular size which is independant of your distance to the raindrops. The same thing happens when you use your garden hose. No matter how much you step back, you will not be able to see its full diameter in your photograph. You would need a very wide angle lens for that.

Photomicrography is; the process of documenting images on film as seen through a microscope. One of the leading manufactures of a microscope used for Photomicrography is LOMO. The LOMO Laboroscope models LA-MI-AL-2000 and LA-MI-AL-3000 are perfect examples of microscope technology that will allow you to extend your capabilities in the Photomicrography field. The LOMO Laboroscope offers the three major contrast techniques, Brightfield, Phase Contrast, and Darkfield. Well matched to suite the Photomicrography field of science. Scientists who are looking for an upgrade in the technology of a Laborascope will want to have this microscope in their lab! The LOMO Laborascope recognizes photography through it's engineering. LOMO's reputation has grown over the years and has been recognized for it's outstanding performance in the world of Photomicrography. I encourage all members of the scientific research industry to take a look at the LOMO Laborascope! You won't regret it!

A Binocular microscope is a microscope with a head that has an eyetube for each eye. A Trinocular microscope is a microscope with a head that has two eyepieces and a photo port. A Monocular microscope is a microscope with a head that has a single eyepiece.

A binocular microscope has one optical path starting at the microscope objective. The optical path is split into two paths that are then brought to your eye. If your microscope has two eyepieces and one standard objective then you have a binocular microscope. A trinocular microscope works in the same manner, but the optical path is split into three paths, two for your eyes and a third port mostly used for a video/camera connection. In a stereo microscope, there are two paths starting at the microscope objective that travel parallel up to your eyepiece. There is an advantage to using a stereo microscope; it is the depth perception. Having two separate optical paths allows depth perception and three dimensional viewing of an object possible. If you are using a binocular microscope you will see only a flat field and you will not be able to distinguish any height differences on the object you are viewing.

A Bunsen burner is a piece of lab equipment that is used to heat up substances during a laboratory experiment. Most labs these days have switched over to the electric version called a hot plate. Hot plates have less potential for flammability, and produces a cleaner heat that is adjustable. Bunsen burners are still used in classrooms and laboratories around the world. Most lab technicians are familiar with the way they work. A Bunsen burner is a small gas burner with an adjustable flame, you remember the ones from Science Class, don't you? The flame is manupulated at the base by controlling the amount of gas and air allowed into the burner. The Bunsen burner consists of a metal tube which is connected to a base that is weighted. The base has a nozzle that allows you to connect it to a fuel source, as well as a gas valve and a flue adjuster (Just like in your fireplace at home). The flue adjuster controlls how much air is allowed through tiny air holes at the base of the tube. The gas then mixes with the air at the bottom of the tube then rises to the top of the Bunsen burner, where it acn be lit with at match or lighter. Do you know who the Bunsen burner was named after? It was named after the Scientist who was the authority in a lab where it was invented. He was not the actual inventor. Robert Wilhelm Bunsen was a renowned Chemist in Germany in the 1800's. He was searching for a way to provide clean, safe air for his lab. One of his assistants was the one who actually invented the Bunsen burner, his name was Michael Faraday, another lab assistant streamlined the design, his name was Peter Desaga. The re-design was finally named the Tirrill Burner. The burner allowed for greater control over the flame, it's height and how intense the flame could get. So, it worked and quickly became associated with Bunsen's lab. The result of it's popularity gavie it the name the Bunsen burner.

The word "Witty" was derived before the 12Th century. It's Archaic: Having good intellectual capacity (INTELLIGENT). With this being said, everybody uses wipes,right? From a mother to wipe messy hands and the faces of her children to our Scientists who must take special care of their laboratory equipment. Some of us have forgotten the complex technology embedded in these inexpensive and reliable cleaning tools. In General there are three categories of wipes: Wipes made of woven or knitted cloth, paper wipes, and wipes made of non-woven synthetic cloth. Here are some things to consider when deciding on which wipes are the ones are the best for your specific application. The most obvious criteria is the absorbency of the wipe. Most of us forget that absorbency will vary by contamination. Some wipes will not absorb water, while others work better on solvents and lacquers. Understanding your application is crucial to a successful selection process. The second criteria is cleanliness; meaning the contamination caused by the wipe itself. Cleanliness is related to absorbency. Balancing the incompatibilities can be a challenge. The cleanest wipe is porous and will not absorb as much contamination, while more absorbent materials may be more sensitive and leave more residue and fibers. The ULTIMATE criteria concerns the packaging. Many wipes come in a very inexpensive unclean cardboard. Electronics grade wipes are packaged in a static-free packaging that avoids damage to circuit boards and avoids attracting dust while in transit. Almost all cleanroom environments require "double packaging". There are many packaging choices, so you should consider what your needs and your budget are before making your selection. You should also check the packaging and the packaging material in the packaging process. Semiconductor companies expect the packaging to be as contaminant free as the wipes themselves. The packaging must not contain, plasticizers, silicones, or ionics that may cross-contaminate the cleanroom. For this type of environment, it is critical that the wipes be cut, counted, and packaged in a cleanroom environment. If this process is not followed, then the wipes become expensive, double packaged dirt. The very last criteria is the cost, which must be evaluated. You may want to look at a wipe that can be used several times, such as a fabric wipe which is more absorptive, stronger and more durable. In the long run they may be more expensive to purchase, but because they can be used multiple times they are generally a less expensive alternative.