in preparing the wet mount slide why is it important to touch the edge of the drop of water with the coverslip before lane it flat on the glass slide
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in preparing the wet mount slide why is it important to touch the edge of the drop of water with the coverslip before lane
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Slide Mount Instructions
Before you start building your slides, make sure you have everything you will need, including slides, cover slips, droppers or pipets and any chemicals or stains you plan to use.
You will be using two main types of slides,
1) the common flat glass slide, and
2) the depression or well slides. Well slides have a small well, or indentation, in the center to hold a drop of water or liquid substance. They are more expensive and usually used without a cover slip.
Standard slides can be either plastic or glass and are 1 x 3 inches (25 x 75 mm) in size and 1 to 1.2 mm thick.
Wet slides will use a cover slip or cover glass, a very thin square piece of glass (or plastic) that is placed over the sample drop. Without the cover in place, surface tension would cause the droplet to bunch up in a dome. The cover breaks this tension, flattening the sample and allowing very close inspection with minimal focusing. The cover also serves to protect the objective lens from interfering with the sample drop.
MOUNTS
There are four common ways to mount a microscope slide as described below:
Dry Mount
In a dry mount, the specimen is placed directly on the slide. A cover slip may be used to keep the specimen in place and to help protect the objective lens. Dry mounts are suitable for specimens such as samples of pollen, hair, feathers or plant materials.
Wet Mount
In a wet mount, a drop of water is used to suspend the specimen between the slide and cover slip. Place a sample on the slide. Using a pipette, place a drop of water on the specimen. Then place on edge of the cover slip over the sample and carefully lower the cover slip into place using a toothpick or equivalent. This method will help prevent air bubbles from being trapped under the cover slip.
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