Unit 2 – Cell Biology

Biologists use microscope to help them study

living organisms.
The building blocks of life are called cells and
scientists need to be able to see cells to
understand living organisms.
Most cells cannot be seen without microscope.
There are some cells that can be seen very easily
with the naked eye.
Unfertilized birds eggs are single cells, most cells
are much smaller than this.
 Unit 2 – Cell Biology

Seeing cells
Everything we know about the structure of cells
has depended on microscope.
There are two main types of microscopes:-
1. Light microscope and the
2. Electron microscope.
light microscope uses a beam of light to form the
image of an object, while the electron microscope
uses a beam of electrons to form an image.
 Unit 2 – Cell Biology
Did you know?
The largest single cell in the world is an ostrich
egg – they are about 18 cm long and weigh
around 1.2 kg. Most cells are much harder to see!
 Unit 2 – Cell Biology

Magnification and resolving power

Microscope an instrument for magnifying
specimens.
Magnification means increasing the size of an
object. light microscopes will magnify up to around
2000 times.
Light microscopes have given us a lot of
information about the cells.
An electron microscope can give you a
magnification of 2 000 000 times.
 Unit 2 – Cell Biology

Magnification and resolving power

The problem with the light microscope is the
limited detail it can show. There is a minimum
distance between two objects for them to be seen
clearly as separate.
This distance is known as the limit of resolution.
Resolution is the ability to distinguish between
two separate points and it is the resolving power
of a microscope.
The greater the resolving power of the
microscope, the more detail it can show.
 Unit 2 – Cell Biology

For light microscope the limit of resolution is

approximately 200 nanometers
(1 nm = 1 × 10–9 m).
the human eye can only resolve down to about
0.1 mm (1 mm = 1 × 10–2 m)
Objects closer than 0.1 mm are seen as one
object by human eyes.
 Unit 2 – Cell Biology

 The magnification we can get with a light

microscope is limited.
 To see more detail clearly we need an electron
microscope where an electron beam is used to
make the image.
 As the wavelength gets smaller, the resolving
power is increased. An electron microscope has
a resolving power around a thousand times
better than a light microscope, about 0.3 nm.
 Unit 2 – Cell Biology

 Objects that are 0.3 nm apart can be seen as

separate by an electron microscope.
 The resolving power of an electron microscope is
greater than that of a light microscope.
Functions of different types of microscopes
The light microscope
To look at specimen using a light microscope you
will often use a slide of cells, tissues or individual
organisms.
you can look at living cells directly through a light
microscope.
 Unit 2 – Cell Biology

 Stains are added to the tissue on the slide to

make it easier to see a cell.
 stained cell are dead.
The cells have been treated with chemicals ;so they
do not decay.
 Living cells have not been treated in this way, but
are less easy to see.
 Unit 2 – Cell Biology

Type of stain Type of cells Main organelles

stained

Haematoxylin Animal and plant Nuclei stained

cells blue/purple or brown

Methylene Animal cells Nuclei stained blue

blue
Acetocarmine Animal and plant Staining Chromosomes
cells in dividing
nuclei
Iodine Plant cells Any material containing
starch
 Unit 2 – Cell Biology
How does a light microscope work?
In a light microscope, a specimen is placed on
the stage and illuminated (lit) from underneath.
The light passes through the specimen and on
through the lenses to give an image at the
eyepiece lens which is greatly magnified, upside
down and right to left.
• To calculate the magnification of the specimen, you
multiply the magnification of the objective lens by
the magnification of the eyepiece lens.
• So if the magnification of the objective lens is ×10,
and the eyepiece lens is also ×10, the overall
magnification of the microscope is 10 × 10 = ×100.
• If you move the objective lenses round and use the
×40 lens, the overall or total magnification will
become 40 × 10 = ×400.
• A compound microscope has two sets of lenses
(objective and eyepiece lenses) which are used to
magnify the specimen.
 Advantages and disadvantages of the light
microscope
Advantages Disadvantages
Living as well as dead material can be viewed resolving power and magnification is limited
by the wavelength of light

Use at any time any place can’t magnify living cells as much as we can
dead tissue

Light microscopes can also be used without

electricity

Small and portable

unaffected by electromagnetic fields

cannot provide three-dimensional

renderings
Unless you are looking at living material, or have the
use of a scanning electron microscope, all the cells
that you see appear flat and two-dimensional.
But cells are actually three dimensional – spheres,
cylinders and strange three-dimensional (3-D)
shapes.
 The electron microscope
It shows the surface of structures, greater depth
of focus, and a three-dimensional view of the object
Advantages and disadvantages of the electron
microscope
Disadvantage
High Price
Power source
System maintenance
Sensitivity:-vibrations and external magnetic fields
can be very damaging to it.
 all samples be viewed in a vacuum.
impossible to look at living material.
They take up a lot of space and are usually kept in a
separate room.
Advantages
High magnification
High resolution
Compatibility with other technologies