Magnification

In this required practical, you use a light microscope to observe a selection of plant and animal cells, then make labelled drawings that include a magnification scale.

Magnification describes how much larger the image is than the specimen, whereas resolution describes the ability to distinguish two nearby points as separate. Enlarging a poorly resolved image produces a bigger blur. Improved resolution reveals genuinely finer structures.

Magnification tells us how many times larger the image is than the specimen, whereas resolution describes whether two very close points can be distinguished. An image can therefore be highly magnified but still lack fine detail if the microscope cannot resolve it.

Record the total magnification or include a suitable scale bar. Magnification reports how many times larger the image appears; a scale bar directly represents a real distance in the specimen. These details allow someone else to interpret the size of the cells rather than seeing only an unscaled picture.