Q- about compound(standard) microscopes

[bickdaddy01]

Hi, I would like to know why compound microscopes magnify the intermediate image to create the virtual image, instead of directly magnifying the target object. Is it something to do with the image being inverted, flipped, inside out or just distorted?

 

I've attached a very basic essay which anyone interested in replying can review, the passage in question reads as

 

"The second lens is basically just a magnifier, however instead of directly magnifying the original object, the lens magnifies the intermediate image and creates what can be described as an enlarged, inverted ‘imaginary image’ which is then projected into the eye which in turn, forms a real image."

DI-Essay.doc

[Klaynos]

I'll read the document when I get home as I'm on windows atm and don't like viewing docs on it..

 

But are you sure that just a single lens is used as a the the magnifying lens, as when ever I've investigated the scopes I've been using they've always used at least 2 lenses in a telescope pattern (so a short and a long focus length lenses with collimated light on the par...)

[Jacques]

Second page third paragraph:

These lenses diffract the beam or ray through the use of magnetic or electric fields, much like the glass lens would diffract light in the normal compound microscope.

Use the word refract instead of diffract

[John Cuthber]

It's a lot easier to make 2 lenses that are both reasonably powerfull than to make 1 that's very powerful. Combining the 2 easy lenses gives the same magnification with less hassle.

[kevinalm]

Eye relief. A single lens is impracticle for more than 30x or so. Although you can with some difficulty get to ~150x, but the specimen is very close to the lens and the lens is nearly touching your eye.