The difference between inverted and upright microscopes
What is an inverted microscope?
Inverted microscope is a microscope whose objective lens and illumination system are reversed, which is mainly designed to meet the needs of liquid-based microscopic observation in biology and other fields. In cell culture, tissue culture, plankton, environmental protection, food inspection and other applications, the tested object is usually in the solution of containers such as Petri dishes or culture bottles, which requires that the objective lens and condenser of the inverted microscope should be designed with a long working distance, so that the tested object can be observed and studied without touching the container.
1. Difference: Appearance difference
The objective lens of the upright microscope is above the objective table, and the transmission light source is below; The objective lens of the inverted microscope is below the stage and the transmission light source is above, so it is easy to distinguish them from each other in appearance.
2. Difference: Objective optical correction is different
The objective lens of an upright microscope is calibrated for a very thin cover glass, and the related mark of the mirror body is a very low value such as 0.17; Inverted microscopes are calibrated for thick slides and the bottom of Petri dishes, and the related marks of the mirror body will be more than 1. Therefore, the objective lenses of the two can't be used in general, and the upright microscope and the inverted microscope can be distinguished accordingly.
3. Difference: Objective lens working distance is different
Inverted microscope is usually used to observe the detected objects in solution, such as cells in culture solution. In order to focus the suspended matter in solution, the working distance of the objective lens of inverted microscope will be larger than that of the upright one.
4. Difference: Magnification difference
The upright microscope can choose 100X objective lens and 10X eyepiece to achieve 1000X high magnification; The maximum magnification of the objective lens of the inverted microscope is only 60X, because the objective lens is almost attached to the sample at 100X, and this working distance is less than the thickness of the container bottom, which means that the objective lens has already hit the container bottom before focusing successfully, so it is impossible to focus.
5. Difference: inverted standard phase contrast observation
Inverted microscope is often used to observe colorless and transparent living cells, so phase contrast ring and phase contrast objective lens are standard to realize phase contrast observation. Usually, there are four magnifications of 4X, 10X, 20X and 40X, and there will be phase contrast objective lens. An upright microscope needs special condenser fittings to observe the phase contrast, so an upright microscope with phase contrast is not common, and the standard objective lens does not include the phase contrast objective lens.
6. Difference: The sample height limit is small
The condenser of the inverted microscope is also designed with a long working distance, and some parts can be raised. In addition, some inverted microscopes may cancel the upper light source to remove the height limit of the sample.
These are the main differences between inverted and upright microscopes.
