Microscopes can be classified by purpose, construction, and viewing options. Trinocular microscopes can be optical, acoustic, or electron microscopes. They can serve multiple purposes, including allowing a second observer to access a specimen and enabling the use of technology to preserve or project images.
A microscope produces a carefully magnified image to allow the examiner to see things on a larger scale. It may or may not be able to widen enough for the examiner to view the cells. There are several ways to classify microscopes: by their purpose, by their construction, and by how specimens are viewed. In terms of viewing options, a microscope can be monocular, binocular, or trinocular—that is, with one, two, or three eyepieces.
A trinocular microscope can be an optical, acoustic or electron microscope. In other words, it can be a microscope where the sample is illuminated by visible light, sound or a beam of electron particles. Also, the third eyepiece may have been added to a binocular compound microscope or stereo microscope. A binocular compound microscope uses a series of objective lenses but has a pair of eyepieces, with the image light formed by the objective divided by a prism. A stereomicroscope has two eyepieces, but also two objectives, so that the examiner’s view appears three-dimensional. In both cases, the user with the third lens on either of these two types of trinocular microscope will have monocular vision.
A trinocular microscope can serve one of many purposes. One purpose is to allow a second observer to access a specimen at the same time as the person primarily using the microscope. This means that an instructor can, for example, look at what a student is seeing to answer a question or to verify the accuracy of the student’s observations. Additionally, the instructor may invite a student to share his or her insight into an interesting specimen or while modeling how to adjust focus, for example. This extends the educational possibilities from the situation where one person does not have to look in order for the other person to see.
Another purpose of a trinocular microscope is to enable the use of technology to preserve the images seen through the microscope by recording or projecting them. In the first case, a digital camera or video camera could be attached to the third eyepiece, which could actually be designed as a port for this specific purpose. If not, there are adapters for some microscopes that can adapt a trinocular eyepiece intended for human vision to a camera. Projecting an image has several advantages including allowing for extended study without having to bend over the microscope itself, sharing the images with others in the room, or even sharing the image via video chat or other means.
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