Thread: Question about Microscopes!!!

Hi, On jackass i saw one the guys look at there sperm under a microscope, i thought this sounded interesting, Im not to good at microscopes not reli into it. Im using a 12x 18x screw on see through lens on top, zoom of 100x 750x and a piece on the scope which u can turn round for different lenses which is 500x-750x. originally one for kids to use at school i think. When i look in the scope am i meant to see a full sized sperm, or very tiny dots that are moving about or would i see then quite big at this level magnification? Kinda got myself abit paranoid if i actually have any sperm lol. Really need to know. thanks

i consulted google images. a 1000 times magnification results in being able to make out the full shape of sperm however none of the details of the surface or organelles are visible. so your magnification seems about right.

400X-600X is usually sufficient for visualizing eukaryotic cells.

I'm confused by the description of your microscope, I don't know what you mean by the zoom. I'm gathering you have 12X and 18X eyepieces and probably 50X and 75X objectives. If your microscope can do 18X750x750x it would be more powerful than the best light microscopes on the market.

Ok i mean this by zoom

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/835/dscf4213.jpg/

And Here are some photos of the machine and magnifiers.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/685/dscf4215.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/198/dscf4214k.jpg/

On the third image you can twist to 55x 750x, 96x 114x and 300x 450x

I seem to see a lot of movement, but from what you guys are saying i should see the full sperm, i can see dots moving, but then again as there's millions of tiny sperm wouldn't it be difficult to see them individual anyway.

What am i doing wrong to see them individually?

OK, those knobs are your rough and fine focus, they adjust the distance of your lenses from the slide, you should be able to see the stand move when you use the rough focus. Your objectives seem to be labeled by their total magnification, rather than by the actual objective lenses magnification.

I'm not sure if you're in focus, start at a low magnification and adjust your rough focus until you get a clear image. Then you move up gradually, adjusting your fine focus.

750X should be enough to resolve individual cells, you have to keep in mind that these things are very small, and they won't ever take up the entire field of view, they will be small, like looking at rice grains on a tabletop. They should be more than dots at that magnification. The flagella of the sperm won't be visible without a stain for you. You need a higher end microscope to register phase contrast that can make out the flagella.

Thanks for your help , Its really quite interesting, maybe im in the wrong career lol. Kinda freaky looking at living organisms close up. Thinking this is whats living inside you. Yeah when i first looked through the scope i kept thinking the scope was moving maybe my hand was shaking it haha. (shaking blur) Maybe i was focusing in at a lower magnification, Not quite the size of rice, but bigger than a dot, didn't look anything like what i thought it would. What scope would you sujest i buy for my own use if i want to see them individual? thank you matt.

If you want to see the tails and fairly individual cells, you're going to need a microscope capable of 1000X oil immersion and phase contrast microscopy. That would probably run you 1500-3000 dollars.