An Introduction to Microscopes

The two types of microscopes that will be focused on in this webpage are the simple microscope and the compound microscope. The simple microscope, also known as the magnifying glass, is composed of a single converging lens. The compound microscope is composed of at least two lenses and is generally referred to as a microscope.

There are two main purposes of a microscope:
 

1) to increase the magnification of an object
2) to have a high resolving power

Both of these will be examined; however, a greater emphasis will be placed on the resolving power.
To see the main components of a compound microscope click on the following link: http://wbiomed.curtin.edu.au/teach/humanbiol/hb133/s02/vmicro1.htm