Compound Microscope
Construction
A compound microscope consists of two convex lenses mounted coaxially in a tube.
• The lens near the object is called the
objective.
• The lens near the eye is called the
eyepiece.
• The objective has very small focal length and small aperture.
• The eyepiece has comparatively larger focal length.
Ray Diagram

Working
Step 1: Formation of intermediate image
The object is placed just beyond the focal length of the objective.
The objective forms a real, inverted and magnified image inside the tube.
This image acts as the object for the eyepiece.
Step 2: Action of the eyepiece
The intermediate image is placed within the focal length of the eyepiece.
The eyepiece acts as a simple microscope.
It forms a highly magnified virtual image.
Step 3: Final image
The final image produced is
• virtual,
• highly magnified,
• inverted with respect to the original object.
Thus a compound microscope provides very large magnification by combining the magnifying effects of two convex lenses.