MICROSCOPY
GRADE 8 NATURAL SCIENCES
1. Take a look at your ruler… How any millimetres (mm) can you count in one centimetre?
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2. How many micrometres (µm) are there in one millimetre (mm)?
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3. Do you think you can see a micrometre with the naked eye? Provide an explanation for your
answer.
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4. How many nanometres (nm) are there in one micrometre (µm)?
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5. How many nanometres (nm) are there in one millimetre (mm)?
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When you take a photograph (for example a selfie), the size of the image (image size) on the
photograph paper, is a lot smaller than your size in real life.
Micro-organisms are so very small that we cannot see them with the naked eye.
Therefore, if we wish to study them we need to use microscopes to view them.
Microscopes magnify structures to a size that we are able to see.
1
When we take a photograph of a microscope view (specimen seen under a microscope) it is called
a photomicrograph.
The size of the image (image size) on the photomicrograph is a lot larger than the size of the
specimen in real life (opposite to the ‘selfie’).
Because the image size is now macroscopic (can be seen with the naked eye) we are able to
measure the size of structures in mm.
However this measurement in mm does not reflect the REAL, TRUE or ACTUAL size of the
specimen seen under the microscope.
In microscopy we are often asked to calculate the real, true or actual size of a specimen based on
the image size that we are able to measure.
1. How to use scale to estimate the real/true/actual size of a micro-organism
1µm
Look at the micrograph above. A scale bar is provided below the micro-organism. The scale bar
tells us how much the image has been enlarged.
The scale bar looks like this:
10mm = 1.0µm
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This means that the length of the bar is actually equal to 1.0um in real life. So if the bar is
10mm long, then anything that is 10mm long in the micrograph is 1.0um long in real life.
So to get the real/actual/true length or size of the micro-organism from the micrograph,
follow these steps.
STEP 1: Measure the length of the scale bar in millimetres (mm).
STEP 2: Measure the length of the micro-organism in millimetres (length of the white line)
(mm).
STEP 3: Divide the length of the micro-organism in mm by the length of the scale bar in mm.
STEP 4: Multiply the answer by the length printed on the scale bar in micrometres (um)
nanometres (nm).
STEP 5: Add the unit of the scale bar to the answer.
STEP 1: Length of scale bar =10mm
STEP 2: Length of micro-organism = 33mm
STEP 3:
STEP 4: ℎ ! "# ℎ $%&' (& 1
STEP 5: 3,3um
Micrograph 1
2µm
3
1.1 Calculate the true size of the micro-organism in micrograph 1.
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Micrograph 2
2.1
a) Calculate the actual size of the coccus bacterial cell in micrograph 2 (a).
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b) Calculate the actual size of the bacillus bacterial cell in micrograph (b).
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4
Micrograph 3
3.1 Calculate the actual size of the human papillomavirus in micrograph 3.
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Micrograph 4
5
4.1 Calculate the actual length of the paramecium (protist) in micrograph 4.
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Micrograph 5
100µm
5.1 Calculate the actual length of the stentor (protist) in micrograph 5.
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Micrograph 6
6.1 Calculate the actual size of the sporangium in micrograph 6.
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