Which light or electron microscope is more powerful?
With the rapid development of science and technology, the application prospects of electron microscopy in the field of microscopy are very broad, demonstrating its unique advantages over optical microscopy. However, due to the different technologies and fields of application between optical microscopes and electron microscopes, electron microscopes cannot completely replace optical microscopes.
In terms of biological applications, the resolution of optical microscopes is far inferior to that of electron microscopes, because the resolution of optical microscopes is limited by diffraction limits, so its resolution cannot be less than half of the wavelength of incident light. That is to say, if 400nm incident light is used, the observed object cannot be less than 200nm. However, due to its ability to perform real-time and dynamic observations, its position in biology is unparalleled. It is impossible to leave optical microscopes such as fluorescence microscopy and confocal microscopy in the field of biology. Due to the use of electron beams for scanning and imaging, electron microscopes can easily achieve nanometer resolution, which is irreplaceable for high-resolution imaging applications.
In terms of application in metallographic analysis, the magnification of electron microscopes far exceeds that of optical microscopes. The maximum magnification of modern electron microscopes has exceeded 3 million times, while the maximum magnification of optical microscopes is about 2000 times. Therefore, electron microscopes can directly observe the neatly arranged atomic lattice in the atoms and crystals of certain heavy metals.
What can optical microscopes and electron microscopes see
Under an optical microscope: chloroplasts and vacuoles, cell walls and membranes can be seen through cytoplasmic separation, and chromosomes and mitochondria can be seen through staining with dyes (Jiana Green)
Under the electron microscope, all sub microstructures can be seen, and all structures in the cell structure pattern diagram that appears in the compulsory high school textbook can be seen. Such as phospholipid bilayers and proteins on the cell membrane, various organelles in the cytoplasm, and nucleoli, nuclear membranes, nuclear pores, etc. in the nucleus.
