How to Increase Your Overall Magnification with a Compound Microscope

What happens to the overall magnification of a compound microscope if the objective lens and eyepiece focal lengths are doubled?

a. This will result in no change in the magnification.

b. The magnification doubles.

c. The magnification quadruples.

d. The magnification decreases.

Answer:

Doubling the focal length of both the objective and eyepiece lenses in a compound microscope decreases the overall magnification to a quarter of the original.

Increasing the focal length of both the objective lens and eyepiece in a compound microscope has an interesting effect on magnification. When both focal lengths are doubled, the overall magnification actually decreases rather than increases.

This happens because the total magnification of a compound microscope is determined by the product of the magnifications of the ocular (eyepiece) and objective lenses. Each of these magnifications is inversely proportional to the respective lens's focal length. Therefore, doubling the focal length of both lenses will effectively halve the magnification of each.

As a result, the overall magnification of the microscope decreases to a quarter of the original. This phenomenon occurs because, in the field of optics, a larger focal length corresponds to less magnification.

So, if you want to increase the overall magnification of your compound microscope, you should consider reducing the focal lengths of both the objective lens and eyepiece rather than doubling them.