

Light microscopes can have impressive magnification levels of up to 1000x.

Crime scene investigators even use them to help apprehend criminals! As you can see, the light microscope’s uses are numerous and diverse. Botanists use them to examine the internal structure of plants. Kids and hobbyists use light microscopes to look at everything from rocks to bugs to living cells. Obviously, they’re commonly used in many different scientific fields for a diverse array of microscope studies. They’re commonly employed in the medical field for viewing blood samples, cells, and more. You’ll find light microscopes being used in a variety of hobbies, professions, and fields. Slides are also much quicker to prepare for a light microscope, usually taking only a few minutes to a few hours at maximum. This makes them perfect for examining live cells, bacteria, and other living organisms. They won’t cause damage to the specimen or kill it. Also called optical microscopes, light microscopes encompass a variety of different microscopes, including the commonly used compound microscope and the stereo microscope that’s better for viewing slightly larger subjects.īecause light microscopes only use light to view your subject, they can be used with dead or living specimens. If you think back to science classes in high school, the microscopes you used were all light microscopes. Light will pass through the object you’re viewing and the lens will magnify it to a much larger size so that you can clearly see your tiny subject in great detail. As the name implies, light microscopes use light to see.
