DIY: Slides

A great project for kids of any age is making a variety of microscope slides to view under your high power microscope.

When making temporary slides, the supplies needed are very basic:
1. blank slide
2. cover slip In order to make your slide, simply place the specimen on the slide, apply the cover slip so it lays flat, and view under the microscope.
3. When finished viewing, wash the slide in warm soapy water. The cover slip is quite thin so be careful that you don't break it during cleaning.

Creating permanent slides involves sealing your specimen within the slide so it lasts, and then labeling the slide so that years from now you remember what the sample was. You may also want to stain the slide, if so, this page offers great information on staining microscope slides.
1. Prepare the slide just as you would when making temporary slides.
2. When applying the cover slip, you will want to coat the very outer edges of the cover slip with a thin layer of clear nail polish or cement in order to permanently seal the cover slip to the slide.
3. Make sure your layer of adhesive is not too thick, as this will cause problems with not being able to focus properly on your specimen.

Fun slide making ideas!
1. Cheek cells from inside your mouth (use a Q-tip to scrape the inside of your mouth).
2. Pond water, or water from a muddy puddle.
3. Fine sand particles, sugar, salt, baking soda, a vitamin C tablet - any fine powdery substance. (If you have a polarizing filter - use it when viewing these items as well!)
4. Fabric fibers or strings. Cotton - a thin strand pulled off a cotton ball.
5. Soil from the back yard. A blade of grass or a thin section of a flower.

Phase Contrast Microscopy

Phase contrast microscopy is a technique that coverts phase shifts in light passing a semi-transparent specimens. Phase contrast microscopy is particularly useful for biology studies and research because it reveals molecular cell structures that may not be detectable using a bright field method. Phase changes are made possible with the separation of light from the specimen. 

Phase contrast microscopy makes it possible for biologists to study living cells and cell division as well as live video recording of living organisms. It is recommended to use a microscope with both bright field and phase contrast options, preferably with a digital camera for optimal viewing of both still and live specimens. 

Our 1600X Phase Contrast Siedentopf 3MP Digital Compound Microscope is ideal for biology students, laboratories  and researchers alike. This microscope has three viewing options along with a PC compatible software that can be used for measurements with no slide staining required.


The phase contrast kit on this microscope comes with a(n):

• phase kit condenser
• telescopic eyepiece
• four plain objectives
• eight levels of magnification

Polarized Microscopes

Polarized microscopes are ideal for optical mineralogy because it makes the light contrast with the background and illuminate the sample strongly. Illumination with a polarized microscope is similar to that of a brightfield illumination microscope, however a polarized microscope can also distinguish between iso and anisotropic substances. Polarized microscopes provide very detailed images that help with mineral identification and characteristic analysis.

Polarized light occurs when light is absorbed by an object such as a mineral. A polarized microscope has a polarizer and an analyzer, both which work together they cross making no light pass through the microscope. The polarizer and analyzer are key pieces to a polarized microscope. Other accessories you may be interested in purchasing for your microscope include a specialized stage, stain free objective lens, revolving nosepiece, and a compensator. 

For product information and features check out our website for a wide selection of polarized microscopes and accessories. 

Click the link to shop our selection of polarized microscopes

Microscope Accessories

     So you've purchased a microscope from us? Chances are you've already tried your hand at viewing various objects at high and low magnifications. Now you want to know all the upgrades and further potential your microscope is capable of. Some possibilities include looking into purchasing more accessories to increase the potential of your existing microscope.

Accessories you may be interested in from our website include: 

a. CCD camera for watching though computer monitors or your TV b. Camera and video monitor adapters. c. Condensers and sets such as bright field, darkfield, aspherical lens, and polarization set d. Illumination Sets e. Thermal control stage (keeps the stage at a certain temperature to make the specimen alive) f. Attachable mechanical stage g. Extra eyepieces h. Slides, covers, prepared slides, and immersion oil i. Spare bulbs Check out some of best selling microscope accessories at www.microscopenet.com Prepared and Blank Microscope Slides http://bit.ly/VnkIeq 6 Watt LED Illuminator http://bit.ly/XTMN9e Halogen Bulbs with Reflector 21V/150 http://bit.ly/VljoWU

How to Make a Slide for a Microscope: Making Your Own Prepared Slides

You have a microscope--now what? With the directions in this Teaching Tip you can get started right away making your own microscope slides.

• Cork Cells
• How to Make a Smear of Cheek Cells
• Looking at Root and Stem Sections
• Leaf Cells

How to Make Simple Microscope Slides

• Making Simple Slides
• How to Use the Microscope
• Other Simple Microscope Slide Ideas

How to Make a Slide for a Microscope: Making Your Own Prepared Slide

Learn how to make temporary mounts of specimens and view them with your microscope. Below are a few ideas for studying different types of cells found in items that you probably already have around your house. 

Cork Cells

In the late 1600s, a scientist named Robert Hooke looked through his microscope at a thin slice of cork. He noticed that the dead wood was made up of many tiny compartments, and upon further observation Hooke named these empty compartments cells. It was later known that the cells in cork are only empty because the living matter that once occupied them has died and left behind tiny pockets of air. You can take a closer look at the cells, also called lenticels, of a piece of cork by following these instructions.

Materials Needed:

• a small cork
• plain glass microscope slide
• slide cover slip
• sharp knife or razor blade
• water

How to make the microscope slide:

Carefully cut a very thin slice of cork using a razor blade or sharp knife (the thinner the slice, the easier it will be to view with your microscope). To make a wet mount of the cork, put one drop of water in the center of a plain glass slide - the water droplet should be larger than the slice of cork. Gently set the slice of cork on top of the drop of water (tweezers might be helpful for this). If you are not able to cut a thin enough slice of the whole diameter of the cork, a smaller section will work.

Take one cover slip and hold it at an angle to the slide so that one edge of it touches the water droplet on the surface of the slide. Then, being careful not to move the cork around, lower the cover slip without trapping any air bubbles beneath it. The water should form a seal around the cork. Use the corner of a paper towel to blot up any excess water at the edges of the coverslip. To keep the slide from drying out, you can make a seal of petroleum jelly around the cover slip with a toothpick. Begin with the lowest-power objective to view your slide. Then switch to a higher power objective to see more detail. Use this same wet mount method for the other cell specimens listed below.

How to Make a Smear of Cheek Cells

You can even check out cells from your own body! The cells on the inside of your cheek are called Squamous Epithelium cells and can be easily viewed with a compound microscope.

Materials Needed:

• toothpick (flat ones work best)
• plain glass microscope slide
• slide cover slip
• methylene blue

How to make the microscope slide:

To make a cheek smear, take a clean toothpick and gently scrape the inside of your cheek. Then wipe that part of the toothpick in the center of your slide. Hold the coverslip with one end flush on the slide and gently wipe the edge of the coverslip along the middle of the slide's surface. This will smear the cells along the slide, making a layer thin enough to view clearly. Let the smear air dry.

Once your smear is dry, add a drop of methylene blue stain to the center of the smear so you will be able to see the cells more clearly. Gently set a coverslip over the smear and scan your slide under low power to locate the cells, then observe them more closely under high power.

Looking at Root and Stem Sections

Vegetables are a great way to learn about plants. Did you know that carrots are actually roots, and celery stalks are stems?

Materials Needed:

• celery stalk (stem)
• a carrot (root)
• plain glass microscope slides
• slide cover slips
• water

How to make the microscope slide:

Cut a few extremely thin slices out of the middle of the carrot, and some from the middle of the celery stalk. Make a wet mount of the best slice from each vegetable and view them one at a time using your microscope's 4x objective. Compare and contrast what you see in each one, then switch to the 10x objective to look a little more closely. To see details of the amazing structure of plants, use the 40x objective and scan each slide, carefully observing all of the parts and different cells.

Leaf Cells

Learn even more about plants by studying different sections of real leaves.

Materials Needed:

• a fresh leaf specimen (use one without many holes or blemishes)
• plain glass microscope slide
• slide cover slip
• sharp knife or razor blade
• water

How to make the microscope slide:

Before you begin, make sure the leaf is clean and dry. Lay it out flat on your working surface and slice about a 1'' section crosswise out of the center using a sharp knife. Then, starting at one of the short ends (the edges that you did not cut), tightly roll the leaf section. Carefully make several very thin slices off one end of the roll with a razor blade or knife. The slices should look almost transparent. The cells surrounding the central vein of the leaf are what you will want to look at; depending on the size of the leaf, you might have to cut the slice again so that the central part is the part you will actually see on your slide. Make a wet mount on a plain slide with the inner part of the leaf section facing up (so the inner cells are visible). Look at the slide with the 10x objective to see the general structure, and higher power to see details of cells.

A tool called a microtome is extremely helpful for preparing specimens for slide mounting. A microtome allows you to expose a small amount of the specimen at a time and cut it off against a solid edge using a very sharp razor blade type knife.

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