Can microscopes observe molecular structures?
Can molecules be observed under an optical microscope?
Can water molecules be observed with an optical microscope?
Can a microscope see protein molecules?
It is the electron microscope that can observe the molecular structure, and now the magnification of the electron microscope can reach 15 million times.
In the 1970s, the transmission electron microscope was one of the more popular microscopes at present. Its resolution was about 0.3 nanometers, while the human resolving power was about 0.1 millimeters. That was the initial state of electron microscope development.
In 1931, a German scientist modified a high-voltage oscilloscope with a combination of a cold-cathode discharge electron source and three electron lenses. After the modification, he found that the oscilloscope could magnify objects several times. In this way, he invented the perspective electron microscope, and the invention of the high-voltage oscilloscope also confirmed to the world the magnifying function of the electron microscope.
At the beginning of the 20th century, American scientists made new breakthroughs in the study of the resolution of electron microscopes, which soon reached the modern level. At this time, electron microscopes also developed by leaps and bounds in China.
Now the magnification of electron microscopes can reach 15 million times, while the magnification of optical microscopes is only 2000 times, which is also the difference between electron microscopes and optical microscopes, so we can directly observe atoms in metals through electron microscopes condition and the orderly arrangement of atoms in semiconductors.
The resolving power of electron microscopes is still far superior to that of optical microscopes. The maximum magnification of an optical microscope is about 2000 times, while the maximum magnification of a modern electron microscope is more than 3 million times, so the atoms of some heavy metals and the neatly arranged atomic lattice in the crystal can be directly observed through the electron microscope (note that only Seeing the arrangement can not see the atomic structure and molecular level electron microscope can not see. What can be seen under the microscope is the crystal shape of different configuration molecules)
The current microscopes are basically unable to see molecules, not because the magnification is not enough, but because the resolution of the optical microscope is not enough. The current high-resolution STORM is about 20nm, which means that two points separated by more than 20nm can be clearly seen, and the image below 20nm is seen as a group.
Molecules are basically at least nano-scale. If you use an electron microscope, it’s hard to say. The magnification of the electron microscope can reach 10,000 times, and the resolution of the electron microscope is nano-scale. At the same time, I want to tell you that the resolution is very important. , if the resolution cannot be achieved, the magnification is useless at high.
