| Interactive
Primary Newsletter 28 Digital Microscopes |
| Microscopes Newsletter Number 2 explained, in simple terms, much of the relevant theory behind choosing and using magnifiers and microscopes. Should you be reading this current issue but never saw, much less read, Newsletter 2, all is not lost. Web page versions of the 5-14 Science and Technology News are mounted on the ISE 5-14 website. Conventional light microscopes and magnifiers rely on lenses to alter the angle at which light enters the observer’s eye. It is this effect which ‘fools’ the brain into interpreting images so that objects apparently seem nearer than they really are and thus much larger, literally, than life. (Just remember Father Ted’s words of wisdom to Dougal - "Big = Near" Small = Far away"). When a conventional camera is used with such a microscope, the image is projected onto the film rather than the retina in the eye of an human observer. In video microscopy, the image falls on an array of light sensitive electronic detectors which convert the pattern of light into a signal which can be displayed on a TV screen or monitor. The latest kinds of such devices use an array of detectors so small that the resultant camera fits onto a single wafer of silicon - a large, single ‘chip’. That, in turn, has led to the development of the so-called ‘digital’ microscope where the camera is part of the whole device. Now, instead of the light pattern falling on the retina of an observer, the image becomes a digital video signal which be sent to a monitor or, using suitable software, transferred to a computer, displayed on the integral screen or, with an LCD projector, projected onto a large screen or whiteboard. The digital microscope can allow a teacher to use a single instrument to show the whole class the best ways to examine different aspects of a specimen, how to focus and what they really, really should be seeing. With a standard microscope this would mean individual attention. In classes of 20 or 30, even when the children work in pairs or groups, this is time consuming to the point of impracticality. Why not try out the Intel® Play™ QX3™ Simulator at Molecular Expressions. |
