Coverslips

A glasscoverslipis a thin and flat piece of silicate/borosilicate glass which supports viewing samples under a microscope. It canbesquare or circular in shape available in various sizes/diameter. The usual square/or rectangular shape slips are of about 1 mm thick. The slipsperformstwo key functions when working with the microscope. First, is that they prevent the specimen to come in direct contact with theobjectivelens, thereby preventing any damage to the lens. Second is keeping the specimen flat and evenly thick (especially in wet mounts) for viewing in high-resolution microscopes which have a very narrow focus region. Acoverslipsealedonthe microscopic slide using commercial sealants prevents contamination of the sample as well. Some versions arenon corrosiveand some are even made of unbreakable plastic. Since these are thin and transparent pieces of glasses they shouldbehandled with great caution.