magnifiers
a compound microscope
An optical microscope uses light and one or more lenses to view cells. An optical microscope with two or more lenses is called a compound optical microscope.
A light microscope is called a compound microscope because it uses multiple lenses (a compound of lenses) to magnify the image of a specimen. This allows for higher magnification and resolution compared to a simple microscope.
Early lenses were called eyepieces.
light microskope
They are called objective lenses.
The compound microscope is called compound because the modifier compound means "two or more." A compound microscope has two or more lenses lenses. This is to be distinguished from a simple microscope which has one lens. Such a microscope is structurally equivalent to a magnifying glass, though not necessarily a hand held lens.
The lenses attached to the nosepiece of a microscope are called objective lenses. They are used to magnify the specimen being viewed.
If a microscope has more than one lens, it is called a compound microscope.
A compound microscope has multiple lenses
The ocular lenses on a microscope are located at the top of the microscope's eyepiece tube. They are the lenses that you look through to view the magnified specimen on the microscope slide.
The compound microscope is called compound because the modifier compound means "two or more." A compound microscope has two or more lenses lenses. This is to be distinguished from a simple microscope which has one lens. Such a microscope is structurally equivalent to a magnifying glass, though not necessarily a hand held lens.