Staining and viewing cells

artieanna

I am wondering what is the best way to view leaves and plant cells under the microscope. Is there a stain or stains that will show the cells really clear.
Should I allow the leaves to dry out a bit?

I have searched the internet but have found little that helps. Are there any books to help me understand this whole area?

I am a visual artist so please forgive my ignorance.:o

I have a binocular compound microscope 40-1600x

2Scoops

If you're just going for basic staining, iodine is cheap, readily available and effective. Definitely keep your specimens wet as opposed to dry. Try searching for "common stains, microscope" or other key words. There's a wealth of info out there on the net.

artieanna

2Scoops wrote: »

If you're just going for basic staining, iodine is cheap, readily available and effective. Definitely keep your specimens wet as opposed to dry. Try searching for "common stains, microscope" or other key words. There's a wealth of info out there on the net.

You say there is a wealth of infor out there on the net, but I have searched the web and have found sites for kids with basic, basic stuff or sites for real pros with lots of complicated terms etc. There's not much in-between I'm afraid.:(

If you know any good sites I would appreciate the links.....

2Scoops

http://www.hometrainingtools.com/articles/microscope-slide-stains-science-teaching-tip.html

http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/research_methods/microscopy/cellstain.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2080621_stain-microscope-slide.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staining

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artmay04/wdstains.html

Are these too basic or too complicated? What exactly do you need to know?

artieanna

Great, Thanks for the links for some reason I couldn't find some of them!:o

Much appreciated;)