What Is The Difference Between Cover Glass And Microscope Slide

Jul 02, 2021

A cover glass is a thin and flat glass sheet of transparent material, usually square or rectangular, about 20 mm (4/5 inch) wide and a fraction of a millimeter thick, and placed on an object observed with a microscope. The object is usually placed between a cover glass and a slightly thicker microscope slide. The microscope slide is placed on the microscope platform or slide rack and provides physical support for the object and sliding.

 

The difference between a glass slide and a cover glass

 

The glass slide is underneath, which is the holding carrier of the substance to be observed, and we have to put things on top of it. The cover glass is to be placed on top of the observed substance to form a protection with the glass slide below to prevent the substance in the air above from polluting the observed substance. It is covered on it. The material composition of the two is fundamentally different, only based on who is fixed on the carrier first and who is the slide, and the rest is covered with the cover glass.

 

The cover glass is smaller than the glass slide. The glass slide is mainly used to hold the observation object. The cover glass is covered on the glass slide and used for fixing.

 

Cleaning of coverslips

 

Cover slips can also be reused. Although inexpensive, they are not disposable. The new cover glass is also not clean. Just wash it with ordinary dish soap and it's ok. If the requirements are high, there is an ultrasonic washing machine. There is no ultrasonic washing machine, and it is required to be very clean, so after ordinary cleaning, soak it in chromic acid lotion overnight, and then rinse with distilled water.