Useful Tips on Buying School Microscope
Once in your life, you may have glimpsed a whole new world through the microscope. Yes! I am talking about you being able to use your school microscope and did you enjoy it? Did you ever wonder how your school personnel bought this sophisticated little machine? In the near future, you may also need to buy one of these microscopes, and reading this article can guide you in such an endeavor.
The simple yet important question to ask yourself initially are the ages of the students who will be using the microscopes. Aside from the age, manual dexterity is also important in buying school microscopes. They are the ones who will use the microscope so the instruments should be apt for their age, capability, capacity and knowledge.
Your choice will also depend on the type of school activity that will need these microscopes. There are playful projects that can require only toy microscopes or some rigid experiments that will need top quality microscopes. In any cases, a good choice must be done so as to have a good buy.
The next thing to know about is the types of school microscopes. Basically, there are two types of microscopes, the low power and the high power. The low power microscopes are very flexible having typical magnifications of 10 to 40 times. Low power microscopes are ideal for inspecting whole objects such as insects, flowers and rocks. It can also be used in viewing prepared slides with grains of sugar or salt. You can also use these microscopes in comparing the crystal samples and minerals.
The high power or compound microscopes on the other hand can magnify thin sections of the specimen mounted on the slides. These microscopes are fitted in observing cells, protozoan, tissues and other matters which are invisible to the human eye.
Low power microscopes are useful for children and for natural science students, but it will not be much often used in high school biology and in viewing the details of certain cells. High power microscopes are the ones needed for science projects and life science or biology studies.
Upon knowing the need of your school, the next thing to seek is what type to buy? Palevitz, a famous professor of Plant Biology quoted that you can glimpse human soul through a microscope but you need one which is very good with two eyepieces. Whether you will buy a high or low power microscope, you must look for one which has a precise and easy focusing ability and one which is durable.
Always remember that the one you’re buying must have glass rather than plastic lenses. The high power microscopes must comprise of a substage diaphragm, 3-lens turret and field stops series so as to control brightness. There are microscopes with good single objective but 3 lenses is more useful since it can lighten the job of students in locating the specimen at low power; they can also switch the instruments to higher magnifications immediately. Keep in mind that school microscopes should carry 40, 100 and 400 times magnification; good illumination system, fine and coarse focusing and achromatic DIN optics.
The next important thing to consider when buying school microscopes is the price. There are numerous manufacturers offering school microscopes which looks like pocket flashlights and with magnification of 30x. They sell these stuffs from 5 to 10 dollars; these kinds are good enough for extensive school curriculum. If in case, real microscopes are really required, you should prepare more or less 1, 0000 dollars. But these will give you 10 microscopes at a price range of 70 to 100 dollars a piece. These microscopes can be expensive but you are assured of high quality microscopes! These types will really give the students lot of convenience. Less expensive ones will only provide disappointing performance; thus, think carefully!
The last question will be where to buy the school microscopes. There are a lot of deals whether direct from manufacturers, from supply houses and internet. Yellow pages and catalogs will offer contact list of dealers. Online auctions are also offering school microscopes; you can also acquire it through mail orders.
Buying school microscopes is much similar to buying books. You can buy it at once not knowing the contents and not knowing if it will help the students. Microscopes are also like that, but the big difference is that microscopes are so complicated and way too expensive; thus you cannot afford to commit mistakes when buying. You should not rush things; better yet, before buying, you should examine every feature of the school microscopes and follow the tips above. This way, you can have a good buy that you and your students will benefit from.
