Eye, Magnifying Glass, Microscope

photographs by Bruce Iverson

there is a picture of a yellow daisy.

Eye

There are many ways to look at things around us. You can look at flowers with your eyes and see beautiful colors and patterns.

there is a closeup picture of the flower.

Magnifying Glass

A magnifying glass makes the flower look bigger. You see details that your eye missed.

there is a microscopic picture of small beige ovals covered with spikes.

Microscope

And with a very powerful microscope you can see these spiky balls. They are the grains of powdery pollen that bees collect when they make honey—and that can make you sneeze!

there is a picture of a small spider.

Eye

You might see this orb weaver spider spinning its web in your garden.

there is a closeup of the spiders belly.

Magnifying Glass

Look closer and you can see its head and where its legs attach to its body.

there is a microscopic picture of the spider's head.

Microscope

If you could look at it under a microscope, you might not even know you were looking at a spider's head.

there is a picture of a leaf.

Eye

You can see a leaf with your eyes.

there is a closeup of the leaf.

Magnifying Glass

With a magnifying glass you can look closer at the veins that carry food and water to the plant.

there is a microscopic picture of the leaf's surface.

Microscope

But you need a microscope to see the tiny openings on the leaf that let air in and out.

Vocabulary

microscope:
A microscope is used to see things that are too small to see with our eyes alone. Microscopes can make tiny things look big.

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Activity

  1. What form of matter are a flower, a spider, and a leaf? How you do you know?
    [anno: A flower, a spider, and a leaf are all solids. They are solids because they have their own shape.]
  2. If you looked at a gallon of water from the ocean under a microscope, what might you see?
    [anno: Answers will vary but could include that students would see tiny creatures in the liquid that are naked to the human eye.]
  3. Do you think it is easier to study a solid, a liquid, or a gas under a microscope? Why?
    [anno: Answers will vary but could include that a solid might be the easiest form of matter to study under a microscope because it keeps its shape and would not have to be contained in something else in order to study it.]