What can we learn from a microscopic study of the cell structure and be havior of single-celled organisms?
That all living things are composed of cells is one of the most fundamental of all biological generalizations or principles. The two major cell types that exist, prokaryotic and eukaryotic, differ greatly. However, both carry out all of the functions of life. In this lab, you will review/learn some of the basics of microscopy in order to study these cell types in more detail.
Among the questions you will address are:
How do magnification and resolution differ?
How do increases in magnification affect resolution? What, if anything, limits resolution? Explain.
How does the structure of a prokaryotic cell differ from that of a eukaryotic cell?
Calculate the maximum theoretical resolution of a dry objective with a numerical aperture (NA) of 1.0. Assume the illumination source is blue light for which lambda is 480 nm.
Use your knowledge of field diameter to calculate the diameter of a Paramecium that takes up 1/4 of the field diameter using the 40X objective. Assume that the field diameter of a 4X objective is 5.5 mm. Show all work to receive credit for your answer.
How fast (in mm/sec) is the Paramecium (in question 5) traveling if it moves across the full field diameter in 1.5 seconds? Convert your answer from mm/sec to km/hr. How does this speed compare to speeds you are more familiar with? Show all work to receive credit for your answer.
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