Why cannot electron microscopes replace optical microscopes
The electron microscope uses the principle of electron optics, using electron beams and lenses instead of light beams and optical lenses to image the fine structures of matter at very high magnification. Although its resolution is far superior to optical microscopes, electron microscopes are difficult to observe living organisms due to their need to work under vacuum conditions. Moreover, the irradiation of electron beams can also cause radiation damage to biological samples, so they cannot completely replace optical microscopes. Moreover, their cost and suitable working range are also different. I hope my answer can be helpful to you.
The reasons why electron microscopes cannot completely replace optical microscopes are as follows:
1. Electronic microscopes belong to optical microscopes with the addition of accessories such as CCD, display screen, or computer. This can only be said to be video microscopes, and throughout the imaging process, CCD replaces the human eye. Because in video imaging, electronic amplification belongs to virtual amplification, and in terms of pixels, photosensitivity, and other factors, it is too different from the human eye, so it is too different from the visual microscope effect;
2. The most important reason is that CCD belongs to planar imaging, and the human eye, especially in binocular observation, produces a strong sense of stereoscopic effect, which is the reason for the excessive depth of field effect compared to the two;
3. Most electron microscopes are represented as electron scanning microscopes, which have much better effects than general optical microscopes. However, due to their high cost, they are rarely used in industry.
