Microscopes

[Devanshu]

I have one question left for my lab that I cant find in my lab book so I figured someone here probably knows. Here goes..."which objective requires the most light and why".

[Cobra]

Sorry, no idea. I would think that it's the one with the highest magnification - they have a smaller aperture for the lens and so require more light (since they don't have the width to gather much up).

[Heywould3]

"The size of the telescope's/microscopes objective lens, or aperture, limits the amount of power that can be used effectively. As the magnification of an object increases, the brightness of the image decreases. This is because the light gathered by the telescope is being spread over a larger area.
Aperture also limits the clarity of an image at increased magnification. When magnified beyond an aperture's recommended power, the image dims and becomes fuzzy. "

that might give you a hint

[Capmaster]

At least in astronomy, one of my hobbies, each telescope is given an "f-index" which is focal length divided by aperture - the lower the f-index the better the light-gathering abilities of the telescope. I quickly learned that light-gathering is far more important than absolute magnification because most of the cool stuff in the sky is there already, your eye just needs the added light-gathering assist of the equipment to see it. Don't believe me - go outside on a starry night, find a dark location, and stare at one area of the sky for 30 minutes. By the end of that time you'll see ten times as much as when you first went out.

A microscope is a slightly different case. True you need light-gathering, but magnification is more important because you have the luxury of being able to increase the illumination of your target. Something we astronomers can't take advantage of :P

So my answer is: the highest magnification.

[Devanshu]

Thanks guys...I figured that was the one so I took a guess 10 minutes before class started. Sad thing...I forgot to turn in the damn lab.

Sometimes I just piss myself off.

[ViRaL1]

It's not just you, sometimes you piss me off too.

[Devanshu]

It's a skill...what can I say. :P