The optics of a mid 19th Century compound microscope; the Powell & Lealand microscope |
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Magnification and Modeling
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Ray diagram showing the three lens systems.
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The Powell & Lealand microscope consists of three lens systems: The objective system, a Field lens (Lens 2), and the eyepiece (Lens 1). The total magnification was calculated to be approximately 250x and observed to be 273x. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chromatic Aberration | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Difference in focus positions between Red and Green illumination
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Green light
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White light
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Chromatic aberration is minimal when imaged through the objective lens. Eyepiece lenses exhibit somewhat higher dispersion. However, this microscope can certainly be considered "achromatic" by 1861 standards. (How they determined this.) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Resolution and Sample Images | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Determining Resolution
0.01mm micrometer scale Demonstrates <<10µm resolving power |
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Sample images. Parachute fabric showing individual fibers.
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