how do i measure organisms under my microscope?

[r33fking]

i am new to this subject and i have just received my new scope . i am interested in taking measurements of the things im magnifying . what is protocol in doing so? what do i need ?

[William]

Wow, I totally read that title wrong the first time.

But to get back on topic, a ruler. No I am jot joking. You look at a ruler under the microscope and see how big it looks, then you place your subject under the scope without changing the magnification and compare. At low magnifications any ruler will do, but at high magnification you will need a special one with one markings much closer together than the ruler in your desk drawer.

To make comparing to the ruler easier/more precise, you can buy a special eyepiece with markings on it. For example, you look at the ruler and note that 1mm spans 7 ticks on the eyepiece. Then you look at your subject, and see that it is 10 ticks long. You can then conclude that the subject is 10/7= 1.4mm long.

Check out this site for a more detailed explanation.
http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/metho ... uring.html

Also, never forget that google can be your most value research tool.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Measuring+with+Microscope

[D3monic]

http://wardsci.com/product.asp?pn=IG001 ... 1257381825 Might help too.