Question

List the steps involved in making an Elodea spp. leaf wet mount and focusing the specimen with the microscope.

Answer 1

elodea is a genus of submerged aquatic plant used in aquarium and it has thin straight leaves.

as asked for the steps involved in making the wet mount of elodea spp leaf are;

1- first of all take a clean microscope slide.

2- place a drop of liquid on the slide and this is the wet part of the wet mount and simple tap water is used in preparing or examining plant cells.

3-now you need to obtain the specimen so as there is a elodea leaf here which has two layers and so it can be taken for better study of the cells.

4- now place the speciem on the liquid part of the slide.

5- and as it is photosynthetic cell which has green appereance doesnt require a additional stain on the slide

6- now put a coverslip on the slide which makes a sandwich like appearance of the specimen which is between coverslip and slide ( dont let the bubble come in this if comes slightly remove coverslip from one edge and then make release of the bubble.

7 as now your slide is ready you need to see your slide in microscope and make it focus with putting it in the center of the stage

8 adjust the mirror of the microscope for the proper light source sunlight or artificial light source so that it can illuminate the slide on the microscope.

9 then you need to first focus on the slide by course adjustment and then by fine adjustment to observe the sections of the slide.

10 after these adjustments wet mount of elodea spp will be ready for observation.

11 final slide sections should be viewed and care of air bubbles should be taken.