How to use a Light Microscope
Introduction:
In this coursework I will be using a simple light microscope to look at the letter ‘e’ which will be cut out from a past newspaper. I will be trying to find out how a microscope works, and what I see through the eyepiece when looking at the letter ‘e’ and what changes occur when changing the focus and slide.
Before I begin the experiment I will be introducing exactly what a microscope is and how it is used.
Microscopes are instruments that magnify tiny objects or reveal fine details on larger objects, they reveal to us things that are invisible to our eyes such as cells.
The two commonly know microscopes are ‘Electron Microscopes’ and ‘Optical Microscopes’, electron microscopes use a beam of electrons controlled by magnetic fields instead of light and electron microscopes are very powerful and can show details 1000 times larger than optical microscopes but the specimen must be dried out and sliced very thinly. In an optical microscope, light shining through an object is bent as it passes through a lens and this will make the object appear bigger than it is and by adding a second lens the magnification will then increase. Optical microscopes with several lenses are called compound microscopes and this is what I will be using in the experiment.
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Peer Reviews
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Quality of writing
This piece of work is relatively well written, the candidates instructions included in the method are clear, and they have used appropriate scientific terms throughout their work, though they have used the term ‘light’ microscope in their title, and ‘optical’ is the more accurate term, however they use the correct term in the rest of the essay. Furthermore, there are no grammatical or spelling errors.
Level of analysis
The candidate has sensibly included a risk assessment of the experiment that they will undergo, it is a good idea to be aware of the dangerous of any experiment so that you can avoid them. This shows a competent approach to scientific work. In addition the candidate has written a detailed method which shows a good understand of how to conduct this experiment. The candidate has also gone on to answer some questions relating to their experiment, though it is not clear that all of these are relevant, and the answers are quiet short, for example they state that lens A was the best, but it is not clear to reader why this was. Furthermore the candidate had not provided any sort of conclusion which causes this piece of work to end rather abruptly. A conclusion is important and should include a summary of your key points and a personal reflection to your topic as this allows you to leave the reader with a good impression of your work.
Response to question
The candidate gives a clear introduction, therefore the purpose of this piece of work is obvious form the beginning which is important. They also go to describe an optical microscope and how it works, though they don’t go into much detail, it is clear that they understand the concepts involved. Overall, the candidate gives a thorough response and their work is laid out clearly.
