How Many Lenses Are in a Compound Microscope?
The first microscope had a simple single-lens design. Single-lens microscopes could be considered complicated magnifying glasses. Like a magnifying glass, a single-lens microscope can only magnify an object to one degree, regardless of adjustments. A compound lens microscope, however, contains more than one lens. The combination of lenses available in this type of microscope means that a user can change levels of magnification and can magnify an object up to 2,000 times its size. There are two basic types of lenses in a compound microscope. These two types of lenses are called ocular lenses and objective lenses. The ocular lens is the lens situated in the eyepiece. This is the lens the user looks through to see the object on the slide. Compound microscopes can be either monocular or binocular, depending on the number of eyepieces. A monocular compound microscope has one eyepiece, while a binocular scope has two eyepieces, allowing for a three-dimensional view. According to the State Un
