Question

Difference between compound micro scope and simple micro scope

Answer 1

Lenses

A simple microscope has one biconvex lens, often with a short focal length.

A simple microscope is used to produce an enlarged image of an object placed within its focal length. In simple microscope there is single lens, whereas in compound light microscope there are 3 to 5 objective lenses, which means compound light microscope has better magnifying power.

That’s why compound light microscope has wide range of use in studying and observing, and it’s used by professionals for research purposes.

Magnification power

Single-lensed simple microscope has the magnification power up to 300×, and can resolve below 1 micrometre, whereas compound light microscopes can magnify up to 2,000×, and can resolve down to about 0.2 μm.

A simple microscope has one level of magnification and its magnification is not adjustable and the compound microscope has a much higher level of magnification and is adjustable.

The magnification power of compound light microscope comes from his structure of two systems of lenses. One is the ocular, or eyepiece lens that one looks into and the objective lens, or the lens that are closest to the object.

The objective lens creates a resolved image that is then magnified by the eyepiece lens for viewing. It also has different zoom levels of magnification.

Light source

Another distinction is the use of the light. Simple microscope use natural light source, and compound microscope use illuminator.

Illuminator is another advantage of the compound light microscope because with that light very small pieces can be seen. The intensity of lights for object magnification is adjusting with the help of condenser lens, known as one of the main components of the optical system of many transmitted light compound microscopes. Because simple microscope use only natural light does not contain condenser lens.

Mirror

Simple microscope use mirror that is concave-reflecting type, and compound light microscope use mirror that is plane at one side and concave at other side. At compound microscope this mirror is located beneath the stage and with its concave and plane surfaces gather and direct light in order to illuminate the object.