How to Calculate Magnification on a Light Microscope

••• Sinhyu/iStock/GettyImages

Compound light microscopes use a series of lenses and visible light to magnify objects. The magnification allows the user to view bacteria, individual cells and some cell components. In order to calculate the magnification, the power of the ocular and objective lenses is needed. The ocular lens is located in the eye piece. The scope also has one to four objective lenses located on a rotating wheel above the platform. The total magnification is the product of the ocular and objective lenses.

Calculate Magnification of a Compound Light Microscope

    You look through the ocular lens.
    ••• Stereomicroscope eyepieces in foreground image by wolandmaster from Fotolia.com

    Determine the magnification strength of the ocular lens. This should be written on the outside of the eye piece, but if it is not look in the manual. Generally speaking the ocular lens magnifies 10x.

    Objective lenses are located above the platform where the microscope slides are placed.
    ••• micro-lens image by Hubert from Fotolia.com

    Determine the magnification capacity of the objective lens. The magnification is written on the side of the lens. Traditionally, the value could be 4x, 10x, 40x, or 100x. If you are not sure of the magnification power, check the manual. The objective lens is located on the rotating wheel just above the stage or platform where you place the microscope slide. In some instances the microscope may have only one lens, but generally it has three to four.

    Usually lenses have the magnification written on the side.
    ••• 40 0.65 image by Wolfgang Staib from Fotolia.com

    To calculate the total magnification of the compound light microscope multiply the magnification power of the ocular lens by the power of the objective lens. For instance, a 10x ocular and a 40x objective would have a 400x total magnification. The highest total magnification for a compound light microscope is 1000x.

    Things You'll Need

    • Compound light microscope
    • Manual

Related Articles

How to Use a Manual Lensometer
How to Convert Magnification to Dioptors
How to Increase Resolution on Microscope
How Do I Estimate Cell Size Using a Microscope?
How to Use a Manual Lensometer
The Focal Length of Microscope Objectives
How to Convert Candle Power to Lumens
How to Measure a Magnification Mirror
How to Use the Bushnell Telescope 78-9512
How to Calculate Power Rating
How to Calculate the Horsepower of a Compressor
What Is Magnification Power?
How to Make a Homemade Telescope
How to Change Electrical Amps to Watts
How to Measure Lens Thickness
How to Calculate Millivolts to Amps
How to Calculate 30 KW to Amps
How to Convert Lux to Candela
How to Determine Magnification of a Microscope
How to Use a Refracting Telescope

Dont Go!

We Have More Great Sciencing Articles!