Mell What is the purpose of using a cover slip over a slide?
When viewing any slide with a microscope, a small square or circle of thin glass called a coverslip is placed over the specimen. It protects the microscope and prevents the slide from drying out when it’s being examined.
How should glass slides and cover slips be handled?
Cleaning and Handling Microscope Slides
- Glass slides can be cleaned with 70% ethanol and dried with a Kimwipe (lint free tissue) or lens tissue.
- Coverslips are fragile – handle with care.
- Coverslips should be clean and fingerprint free.
- Both glass slides and coverslips should be held by their edges.
What can you do to avoid accidentally crushing a glass slide with the objective lens?
Slides should be held by the edges, avoiding the cover glass area. Always begin viewing a slide using the microscope’s lowest magnification. This reduces the risk of contact by the microscope’s objective lens. Afterwards, switch to a higher magnification if needed.
How do you heal a broken histopathology slide?
The usual practice of repairing a broken slide is to use Scotch Tape; but often fine splintering with loss of some part of the slide results in loose-jointed coherence, making impossible placing the slide on the stage of a microscope or filing it in a slide box with compartments.
How can we get rid of air bubbles that are present in our mounted slides?
Apply a vacuum: You can remove air bubbles by placing the slide into a vacuum. THe bubbles will expand and move out beneath the cover glass. Dehydrate the specimen: Place the specimen into alcohol. Some specimens will shrink and lose water and air.
What kind of glass is a microscope slide made of?
Microscope slides are usually made of optical quality glass, such as soda lime glass or borosilicate glass, but specialty plastics are also used. Fused quartz slides are often used when ultraviolet transparency is important, e.g. in fluorescence microscopy.
How is a Neubauer slide used in a microscope?
Microscope image of a Neubauer slide’s graticule being used to count cells. A Neubauer slide held in place on a microscope stand by a slide clamp on a cross-table. Some slides have a frosted or enamel-coated area at one end, for labeling with a pencil or pen.
What are the depressions on a cavity slide?
A concavity slide or cavity slide has one or more shallow depressions (“wells”), designed to hold slightly thicker objects, and certain samples such as liquids and tissue cultures.