Defining The Difference Between Stereo Microscopes And Ordinary Microscopes By Examining An Insect And A Leaf

As you might know there are different kinds of microscopes that are supposed to be used for certain opportunities. That is why we today learned the difference between stereo microscopes and ordinary microscopes. This was done by examining an insect and a leaf. The method that was used to examine these organisms was by starting to observate them with the naked eye, then using the smallest magnification and gradually zoom in. The differences in what you could see from the different magnifications was both noted and drawn. For example, the hair on the zophobas and the plant cells on the leaf that was examined could not be seen with the naked eye and was therefore noted and drawn. The biggest difference between a normal microscope and a stereo microscope is that they are used for different types of examinations. For instance the microscopes are made for small thin things like leaves or blood. The reason for this is because light needs to go through it. Though in stereo microscopes you can examine larger things like insects or flowers.

Introduction

In the lab, a species of Darkling beetles (Zophobas Morio) were examined. The insect's larvae resemble very large mealworms, about 50 to 60 mm long when full size. Once they reach adult size, the larvae pupate, and later emerge as large, black coloured beetles. The larvae will not pupate if kept in a container with many other larvae and a lot of food, where they receive constant body contact. Keeping larvaes this way is commonly used to hinder pupation. In order to mature the worms into darkling beetles, they must be kept away from their peers for about 7–10 days. They will then, upon maturation, emerge from their pupal stage as darkling beetles. The insect naturally lives in south as well as central America. They are often used as food for other animals like lizards, the reason being is that they are full with nutrition such as fat and protein.

A leaf from a “spider plant” (Chlorophytum comosum) were also examined. Spider plants have very long leaves similar to big grass blades. The leaves can grow up to almost half a meter long and are around 1.5 centimeters wide (see picture 2). It is native to tropical and southern Africa, but has become naturalized in other parts of the world, including Western Australia. In order to examine this part of the plant we had to make it thinner because it was way to thick for light to travel through it from underneath the microscope and into your eyes. This was done by using a razor blade to lightly peel the thick part away.

Results / Explanations of the Zophobas Morio

After observing the larvae in different magnifications I could clearly see big differences. After a couple magnifications I could see the details and the structure very closely and it was much easier to understand what you were looking at. Something I specially noted was all the hair that the insect had, because with the naked eye it was impossible to see but then when you enlarge the picture it becomes so clear.

The most important parts that i noticed on this insect was the antenna, the mouth, the legs and the hairs (see picture 3). They are used for:

The antenna - The antennae is used for a lot of things. It helps the insect move forward by feeling and identifying the environment in front of it. It picks up fragrance particles so that the insect can smell, and it also picks up pheromones which are partly used for the insects to find a partner.

The mouth - The insects mouth is, just like us humans mainly used to partake food.

The legs - A Zophobas has six forelegs and two prolegs located in the far back of the insect. The zophobas uses the legs to move around just like most other organisms do too.

The hairs - Insect "hair" is not like our typical hair. It is referred to as hair because of its similar appearance on the insect’s body. Chemically it is Chitin, chitin is a nitrogen containing polysaccharide. However the reason larvaes have these small hairs is because they can feel the surrounding environment with them, they can feel touching.

There was much to identify with the Zophobas which you couldn’t see with the naked eye when I observed it in the stereo microscope. In addition to all the dirt it had on its body that suddenly became visible, it was also all hair that it had. The legs and the body were full of tiny small hairs.

Results / Explanations of the spider plant

During the examination of the plant we used a normal microscope rather than the stereo one. The reason being is that we had to go into a much bigger magnification which is not possible on the stereo microscopes. However this was done by cutting of a small part of the plant’s leaf, but as explained earlier the leaf was too thick to be examined just yet, so therefore we made it thinner using a razor blade. When this was done I observed the plant in four different magnifications and I also noted them down. It was very easy to find the beautifully shaped plant cells on the leaf.

When observing the cells in a scale of 100:1 I could see some organelles. The first one and clearly the biggest one was the nucleus of the cell and the second one was the cell membrane.

Nucleus - The nucleus is probably the most important organelle there is in the cell. It contains the genetic information of the whole body as DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid). Basically, the nucleus and the DNA’s task is to be a recipe for how the proteins in the body should be built. When new proteins are needed the DNA replicates itself as mRNA, which is then sent to the ribosomes. The ribosomes now translates this mRNA into amino acids that form the proteins. And the proteins are basically what our whole body is built of, so therefore the nucleus is pretty important.

Cell membrane - The cell membrane separates the interior of all cells from the outside environment. It is built out of two layers of lipid molecules, the main function of the cell membrane is to protect the cell, but also to control the movement of substances in and out of the cell. The cell membrane is therefore just like the nucleus, a very important organelle.

The main difference between a stereo microscope and a microscope is that they are used for different types of examinations. If you want to analyze something big and get a closer look at it, the stereo microscope is a better option. However, if you want to be more in depth and examine smaller things and see how they look at a much smaller level, use a microscope. Since it comes light from the top of a stereo microscope, you can examine the object no matter what size it is. Normal microscopes, on the other hand, gives light from the bottom, which means it has to go through the object for you to see something. Therefore, it must be thin and small, that's why a razor blade was used to make the leaf thinner.

Error sources

During the lab I did not encounter any major sources of error that directly altered the result in any way, however, I could not get a larger magnification on the microscope than 100x. Therefore, I could not look closer at this cell that was observed. This may have been due to a number of things, for example, that I did not get the correct "resolution" on the microscope's rough and fine settings. This is the most likely one but the source of error may have been due to other things as well. For example, that the lens in the microscope was blurred (which is not that likely but could still happen). However, I got the magnifications I needed, though a bigger magnification would have been very interesting to observe.

11 February 2020
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