Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Determine which lens on the microscope you will use as your objective lens, the part of the microscope that touches the oil, to make sure it is designed for oil immersion. Dry objective lenses will not work with this type of microscopy and attempting to use one will just dirty, and possibly ruin, the lens. Typically, one of the lenses on the microscope will be designed for oil immersion, while the others are made for use without oil.
Place your specimen on a slide and lay it on the slide holder of the microscope. Do not use a cover slip, but instead leave the top of the specimen open to the air.
Focus on the specimen using the lowest magnification dry lens. This is usually the 400x lens, and it is shorter than the rest of the lenses.
Place a drop of microscope oil onto your specimen on the slide once the high dry lens is focused on it. Only use oil designed for this application, since it has the same refractive index as glass. Other types of oil may alter how well you can see the specimen.
Swing the lenses around so that the oil immersion lens moves over your specimen. The tip should be touching or right above the oil.
Look at the lens and specimen from the side and use the fine control knob to lower the lens down into the oil to just above the specimen itself.
Move up to the eyepiece and look through it. Use the fine control knob to slowly pull the objective lens back up until your specimen comes into focus in the eyepiece.