Graticule slides
A graticule slide is a microscope slide that contains a mm grid of lines. They allow the size of objects seen under magnification to be measured. A simple version of a graticule slide can be made by anyone with access to a drawing program. Something as simple as the drawing tools that come with Microsoft Word will do.Instructions for using the drawing tools of Word follow in italics
- In Word, go to view, toolbars. and make sure that 'Drawing' is ticked. Then select a line from the drawing tool pallet. [ it is a picture of a line next to 'AutoShapes']
- Draw a single straight, vertical line. Copy and paste the line 9 times.
- Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to line up the lines so that you have 10 evenly spaced lines.
- Select all ten lines at once by holding down the shift key and left clicking on each line in turn.
- Go to Draw then Group, to group all ten lines into a single object.
- Copy then paste the lines then go to 'Draw' then 'Rotate or flip' and rotate by 90°
- Line up the vertical and horizontal lines and by using the corner tabs resize them until there is a perfect grid without any overhangs. Then select both sets of lines and group them together into one object.You should now have a square grid.
Once there is a suitable grid on the computer [you could download the one to the side; see figure 1], a test print should be produced. The size of the printed square should be measured and the grid should be resized until a cm2 grid id printed. This grid can now be printed on photocopiable OHP sheets.
The OHP sheets can be glued to a glass slide with clear nail varnish.