Introduction: DIY Microscope Using Smartphone

About: I love small intro so, I'm a 16-year-old boy how loves thinking and creating. And don't forget to follow me on Instagram @vikaspal2131

Hey everyone, Are you curious about how the tiny little creature which you saw in your biology class looks in real life? Do you ever want to have look at them in real? If yes, then you came to the right instructable. Today I'm gonna show you how to see the teeny tiny creatures living in a drop of puddle water using a microscope that I'm making in my kitchen And it's super simple -- you can make one, too. I'm so excited.

Step 1: Material List

Okay, to see these organisms you'll need very simple things which will be found very easily around you: -------

  • A smartphone
  • A Laser Pointer
  • Some poster tack
  • A piece of white paper
  • Some clear plastic packaging
  • A flashlight
  • Puddle water

Isn't this simple list?

Step 2: Popping Out Lens

Now, the first thing you'll need to do is to take out lens out of the laser pointer. And the one I'm using is just a super cheap one from the hardware store that cost something like $3. I just took the top off and poked at it with a pencil till the lens popped out. Not exactly the most elegant or graceful process in the world, but it worked pretty well.

Step 3: Turning Smartphone Into Microscope

Anyway, next take some poster tack, roll it into a tube, and circle the lens with it. Then attach it to the camera on your phone with the more rounded, or convex, side out. Finally, smooth out the poster tack til it sticks. And that is your Microscope. How easy was that?! And we can quickly check that it works by looking at some text with it. But we don't really want to look at text, we want to look at microorganism.

Step 4: Preparing Sample

Our microscope is ready, now we need to prepare our sample. Take a piece of white paper and place it on top of a flashlight. Then, cut a small strip of plastic to make a microscope slide, and place that on top of the paper. This particular piece of plastic came from the poster tack packaging. Next, take a drop of puddle water and place it on the slide. My buddy and I collected this particular sample from a drain pipe. Finally, take another small piece of plastic and place it on top of the droplet to make a slide cover.

Step 5: Putting All Things Together

Okay, so now that we have our slide we need to focus the microscope, and for this particular sample, I found that if I place my phone on this box and prop the flashlight upon a magazine, it just works great. So high-tech, I know. You too, have to find a way to focus your microscope on your sample like me. So, now go into video mode and zoom in on our sample. And look at that!. There are so many little organisms swimming around!. The larger ones are actually what are called paramecia. They're single-celled organisms that beat this little hair-like structures called cilia and use them to move around and also to eat things like bacteria, and algae, and other microbes, So cool. Anyway, this is, like, the quick and dirty way to make a microscope. I'll love to see what you guys can magnify with your DIY microscope. So please, send me photos of your magnified organisms. Alright, see you next time.

LED Contest 2017

Participated in the
LED Contest 2017

Design For Kids Challenge

Participated in the
Design For Kids Challenge