Lesson 1.3 - Lab Investigation

You have looked at a virtual microscope and seen how it can be used to view extremely small things, but there are other pieces of equipment that can be used to see those small things as well:

a hand lens (magnifying glass)

or

a dissecting scope

or

you can make your own magnifier. Turn to page 163 in the text and do the Try This Activity.

Look at the three pictures on the top of page 163 and answer the following questions.

Question 1. On page 163, the pictures are all of a piece of onion skin but at different magnifications. Which one looks the most like an onion skin?

Question 2. Which picture shows the most detail?

Question 3. Identify an object you would look at with a hand lens. What would not be good to look at?

Question 4. Identify an object you would look at with a dissecting microscope. What would not be good to look at?

Question 5. Identify an object you would look at with a compound microscope. What would not be good to look at?

Question 6. What happened to the text when you did the Try This Activity?

 

Then, return here to continue this lesson.

 

 

Enrichment and Interesting Facts

If you have an onion at home, peal off one of the layers. Then, rub that piece. You should get a thin clear piece of "skin". This is what you are seeing in the pictures on the top of page 163.

Click on the image below to see it enlarged (a new Window will open). You will see that a compound microscope can be used to look at a bacteria, but an electron microscope is needed to see a virus.

 


Go to the next page to learn more .....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Answers to Questions:

Question 1. Which one looks the most like an onion skin?

Picture A looks the most like what your eyes would see. It is magnified 5 times.

Question 2. Which picture shows the most detail?

Picture C shows the most detail because it is magnifying the onion skin by 400 times. You can see parts of the cell wall and large circles inside the cells.

Question 3. Identify an object you would look at with a hand lens.

You may have chosen a different answer than these examples, but you could look at an insect, a seed, or text.

Question 4. Identify an object you would look at with a dissecting microscope.

You may have chosen a different answer than these examples, but you could look at frogs or earthworms.

Question 5. Identify an object you would look at with a compound microscope.

You may have chosen a different answer than these examples, but you could look at cells, blood, or tiny organisms that live in ponds such as this paramecium.

Question 6. What happened to the text when you did the Try This Activity?

The text looks larger.

 

Click to return to where you left off in this lesson.

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