Question

A student wishes to study the cell structure under a light microscope having 10X eyepiece and 45X objective, He should illuminate the object by which one of the following colors of light so to get the best possible resolution?
A. Yellow
B. Green
C. Blue
D. Red

Answer 1

Hint: The working of the light microscope is based on the principle of refraction which is defined as the bending of a ray of light as it passes from one medium to another. The direction of the bending of light ray is determined by the refractive indexes of the two medium.

Complete answer: Light microscope is a tool that uses visible light to detect and magnify the small specimens or objects in the laboratory. These microscopes focus light on the specimens through the lenses.
So the lenses are the main components of the microscope and on the basis of this, the microscope is divided into two types- simple microscope and compound microscope.
Simple microscope has a single lens and thus its magnification is also low while the compound microscope gives a higher magnification as it has two sets of lenses- an objective and an eyepiece lens. Both the lenses are arranged in such a manner that they give efficient magnification of the microscope by bending the lenses.
Resolution of a microscope can be defined as the shortest distance between two points on the specimens which can be differentiated as two separate points or entities by the person using the microscope. The resolution of the microscope follows an inverse relation with the wavelength of the light used in the microscope.
In the given question, among all the options blue color has the minimum wavelength so it will have maximum resolution.
So, the correct answer is “Option C”.

Note:
The light microscope is an essential tool in the science labs as it helps in studying microorganisms. It helps in differentiating between live and dead bacteria and is also used to identify antibodies against pathogens using the fluorochrome labelling technique.