Chapter 5. Mounting Specimens

Equipment and Materials

You’ll need the following items to complete this lab session. (The standard kit for this book, available from www.thehomescientist.com, includes the items listed in the first group.)

Materials from Kit

  • Goggles

  • Coverslips

  • Forceps

  • Glycerol

  • Pipettes

  • Scalpel

  • Slide (well)

  • Slides (flat)

  • Stain, methylene blue

  • Stirring rod (optional)

Materials You Provide

  • Gloves

  • Butane lighter (or other flame source)

  • Carrot (raw)

  • Microscope and illuminator

  • Microtome (purchased or homemade)

  • Petroleum jelly

  • Specimen: carrot

  • Specimen: human hair

  • Specimen: pond water

  • Toothpicks

  • Vegetable oil (olive or similar)

  • Water, distilled

Background

You must mount a specimen before you can observe it with your microscope. Mounting consists of preparing the ...

Get Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial