A Microscopic View
To most people, the compound microscope appears to be just another piece of complex lab equipment taken straight out of a science-fiction film. Looking past the seemingly intimidating knobs and buttons, the microscope is a simple machine to use. If one knows how to use it right, the microscope can be the key to open the door to a microscopic world more complex and unknown than our own.
The microscope sits atop the counter hunched over like a wise old man. Its head droops over the black stage protruding from its body and the two black eyes on its head lean towards the scientist as if urging him to take a peek. On a thin glass slide, the scientist lays down a droplet teeming with organisms, and with careful fingers places this wondrous world underneath one of the three rotating lens of the microscope. With a flick of the power button, the microscope blinks to life and the scientist leans his eyes into the “eyes” protruding out of the microscope’s head. At first, he sees a blur of white light and color, but he carefully turns the large knob on the body of the microscope and the image slowly comes into focus. He can make out faint splotches of color and tiny squirming creatures, and decides to change the magnification. From 4x, to 10x, and finally to 40x— he can finally see the world below him. Out of a hairy piece of light green algae squirms a translucent circular organism. Suddenly, a translucent worm-like creature inches its way into the picture and after a few twists and turns, it disappears from the circle-shaped frame.
Whether the object of interest be a look into the underwater world in the school fountain, the pollen of a flower, or the gills below the cap of a mushroom, the scientist discovers a view his own two eyes can never offer him. The microscope allows him to get a glimpse of the organisms around him and discover seemingly invisible worlds.
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