Question

Write any 2 differences between a simple microscope and a compound microscope.

Answer 1

Hint: As the words simple and compound microscope by itself suggest, a simple microscope is a basic kind of magnification tool and the compound microscope is a compounded magnification tool consisting of possibly multiple simple microscopes to achieve higher magnification.

Complete step-by-step answer:
Let’s start by the definition of a microscope. A microscope is a magnifying instrument or tool, which is used to see very small objects, in the range of micrometers easily.
Now, if we look around us, possibly at a watch maker’s house or a jeweler’s place you will find the work smiths having eye pieces over there head whenever they are working on intricate designs of jewelry for work smiths in jeweler’s place and the work smiths making watches use both huge magnification magnifying glass and high magnification eyepieces to assemble watches.
These, high magnification magnifying glasses and the eye pieces, both normal and high magnification eyepieces belong to the category of simple microscopes. This is because; they use a single lens to produce the magnification.
On the other hand, compound microscopes are usually found in biology labs, where high magnification is required to see plant cells, animal cells etc. The name compound microscope is given to it, due to the compounded magnification created by using multiple lenses of different focal lengths to achieve desired magnification.
The major differences between simple and compound microscope are as follows:

1. A simple microscope has a single lens, while a compound microscope will have 3 to 5 lenses to magnify objects.
2. A simple magnifier works under natural lightning conditions available from the surrounding light, while a compound microscope needs an illuminator to illuminate the object to see the magnified image.

Note: A few more differences, to understand the difference between a simple and compound microscope whenever you see a magnifying tool are:
A simple microscope can only produce a single level magnification, while a compound microscope can vary the magnification level.
Another simple thing that you can look out for is that a compound microscope’s magnification is adjustable while that of a simple microscope isn’t.
The magnifying power of a simple microscope can reach upto 300x, while that of a compound microscope can go upto 2000x.