Every microbe belongs to one of a handful of groups. The group tells you how it is built, how big it is, and which drugs can kill it. Pick a group, then turn the magnification up and down. Everything in the field is drawn at true scale for the view you have chosen.
Under the lens drawn to scale at the magnification you pick
Pick a group on the right to put it under the lens.
How the groups compare each bar is the real size range
The scale jumps by a factor of ten at each step. A red blood cell sits at about 7 microns, so it makes a handy ruler.
Six groups of microbespick one to begin
Pick a group
Magnification
Objective and eyepiece together 400x
Readings
—microns across, typicalwaiting
Full size range —
Fits across a red blood cell —
Width of this field of view 50 microns
Cell type —
Nucleus —
Drug class that works —
Cellular or acellularFive of the six groups are built from cells. Only viruses are acellular. That one fact decides whether an antibiotic can touch them.