Difference between microscope slide and cover glass

Difference between microscope slide and cover glass

1. Different concepts:

A slide is a glass or quartz slide used to place things when observing things with a microscope. When making samples, place cell or tissue sections on the slide and place a cover glass on it for observation. A thin sheet of glass-like material used to produce phase difference.

Cover glass is a thin and flat glass of transparent material. The object is usually placed between the cover glass and the thicker microscope slide. The microscope slide is placed on the platform or slide frame of the microscope and provides physical support for the object and sliding. The main function of the cover glass is to keep the solid sample flat, and the liquid sample can form a uniform thickness for easy observation under the microscope.

2. Different shapes:

The slide is rectangular, 76mm * 26mm in size, and thicker; The cover glass is square, and the size is 10mm * 10mm or 20mm * 20mm, which is relatively thin.

3. Different locations:

The slide is at the bottom, which is the carrier of the observed material;

The cover glass is usually placed on the slide on which the observation sample material has been placed, mainly to facilitate observation and avoid contact between the liquid and the objective lens, so as to avoid contamination of the objective lens. It can also effectively prevent the substances in the air above from polluting the observed substances.

4. Different cleaning methods:

The cover glass is generally disposable and does not need to be cleaned. The glass slides are usually cleaned with water or alcohol. If there are high sanitary requirements for utensils, ultrasonic washing machine can be used for cleaning.

There are generally two kinds of glass slides, one is made of quartz, and the composition is complete quartz. The other is toughened glass, which is ultra-white glass after toughening and can withstand temperature changes of 200 degrees. Ordinary glass does not have the characteristics of light transmission and temperature resistance.

From here, we can easily see that there is still a big difference between the slide and the cover glass. We must distinguish them when using them and try not to make mistakes