How To Prepare A Temporary Wet Mount - A Biology Lab Slide
A temporary wet mount or a laboratory slide is a slide used in laboratories to view mounts under a microscope. We can't entirely view full leaf or an Organ to study the cells. So as to observe under a microscope, and to make observations easier we prepare slide in a laboratory.Making a slide is a simple process which in detail I have explained below.
THINGS YOU WILL NEED
Material to be mounted
slide
watch glass
coverslip
petridish
filter paper
brush
microscope
stain (iodine solution)
PROCEDURE
1. Take a clean slide and put a drop of water on the middle of the slide. The drop of water is where the mount is to be transferred to.
Take extra care so that only one drop of water is present in the slide. Excess amount of water should be removed from the slide, if present.
2. Transfer material to be mounted on the drop of water with the help of a small brush. Do this step very carefully. If the mount is not correctly placed observation under microscope becomes difficult.
3. Add glycerine to the mount. Now carefully place the coverslip over the glass slide covering the mount. Take extra care not to crush the mount much.
4. Remove extra fluid present on the slide with the help of filter paper. This is to obtain a clearer view on the microscope. Don't crush the coverslip, because it breaks easily.
5. Observe your mount under a microscope.
Once your slide is ready to be observed under a microscope place it in the viewing area of microscope and view it. Adjust light to obtain clear view.
STAINING
Usually, material to be mounted is stained. For staining, iodine solution is commonly used.
Take a little Stain in watch glass. Transfer material to be stained onto the watch glass. Wait for a few minutes. Now remove the material from the strain with the help of a brush and place it in watchglass containing clean water. Transfer stained material in drop of glycerine on glass slide. Move coverslip described above and examine under microscope.
NOTE : When material to be stained is very small, place material in a drop off water. Add a drop off stain to it. After few seconds add drop off glycerine and put coverslip. Remove oozing fluid using file paper.
PRECAUTIONS
1. Don't use excess amount of water.
2. Hold coverslip gently. Coverslips break easily so handle them carefully.
3. Use proper staining technique.
4. Don't crush the mount too much.
5.Use brush to transfer mount to slide from watchglass.
Comments
Edwin Thomas (author) from Somewhere on earth on April 22, 2015:
your feedback helps me improve....thanks for your feedback
Larry Rankin from Oklahoma on April 22, 2015:
Making slides was about my favorite thing in science class.
Useful article.
