Microscope Science Project

Need to perform a science project for school? Why not see what types of things grow in pond water when it is kept at different temperatures. Find a local pond or stream and gather some water. Use a depression slide and cover slip to view the water through a high power microscope immediately after you collect it and draw some images (or capture the images if you have a digital microscope).

Now split your pond water into two separate sealed containers, such as washed out yogurt containers with lids. Place one of the containers in a warm sunny area. Put the other container in a ziplock bag (to keep your fridge clean!) and place it in the refrigerator.

After 1-2 days take a sample from each container and compare the specimens. Are there more living organisms in the warm or cold pond water? Do you notice any new specimens swimming in the pond water samples? Why do you think this is?

The image above is bacteria captured at 400x magnification. This is an example of something you might find in the pond water during your science project experiment.

What Can I See With My Microscope?

A compound light microscope has a resolution of about 200nm. A light microscope will allow you to view cells that are alive, fixed or stained.

Bacteria (shown above) is an example of one of the smallest cells that can be seen with a light microscope. Animal and plant cells can be viewed with a light microscope as well.

In order to view small molecules or viruses, a transmission electron or scanning electron microscope is needed. These types of microscopes have a limit of resolution down to 2nm.

Bacteria Microscope Project

This is a great project you can do at home or school with your microscope. You will need the following items:

compound microscope
plain yogurt (with live and active cultures)
eyedropper
well depression slide
cover slip
distilled water

Activity:
Put a small drop of yogurt into the depression on your slide (about the size of a pea). Add one drop of distilled water to the yogurt and cover with the cover slip.

Start with the microscope at the lowest magnification (40x). Locate the bacteria. If you have trouble finding it you may have placed too much on the slide - wipe a bit off so it is in a thin layer and try again. Once you locate the bacteria, move the magnification up to 100x and then 400x.

Can you identify the types of bacteria you found? Draw a picture of the bacteria and label it.

131-CLED student microscope