What is the most powerful microscope magnification?
Humans’ natural curiosity and desire to learn and discover new things led to the invention of the microscope. A microscope is optical equipment that helps us view small objects in detail by magnifying them several times. This helps you see much more details that can’t be seen with a naked eye.
Today, the market offers so many microscope types. Out of all types, the electron microscope has the highest magnification and resolution levels. It gives you a greater ability to look at objects and identify detail that can’t be seen in other types of microscopes. This has propelled the science and technology field into a new era filled with tons of tools and new information to transform our lives for the better.
An electron microscope has the highest magnification power. It can magnify an object up to ten million times with a 50 picometers resolution. To achieve this high level of magnification, an electron microscope uses shaped magnetic fields which generate unique optical electrons lens systems. This magnifies the specimen to above 100,000x.
When it comes to resolution, an electron microscope uses a beam of electrons instead of light waves. Since fast-moving electrons have the ability to behave like waves, they have a wavelength that’s 1,000x shorter than that of visible light. This helps you look at objects at the nanoscale.
To put this into perspective, the closest your eye can see without losing focus is 20cm and your naked eye can’t see any object that’s smaller than 0.05mm. A nanometer is one billion times smaller than a millimeter so it can’t be seen without a microscope with extremely high magnification strength.
Types of Electron Microscopes
There are two main types of electron microscopes, transmission electron microscopes and scanning electron microscopes. A transmission electron microscope can produce magnified images up to 50,000,000x the object’s true size. With such magnification, you can see so many things that low-powered microscopes can’t see. However, the microscope has one major drawback. It can’t see in 3D and you can only use it on extremely thin specimen slices.
On the other hand, scanning electron microscopes are renowned for their ability to detect complex surfaces on objects. While these microscopes have a lower magnification power compared with the transmission electron counterparts, they are capable of creating an image of the object by scanning each surface layer at a time.
What can you see with an electron microscope?
Since electron microscopes provide the highest magnification and resolution, you can use them to see through anything. These microscopes are often used to help people see through objects at the nanoscale.
A wide variety of electron microscopes are used to provide images of organic microorganisms, inorganic compounds, and other elements such as plant and animal life, tiny specimens such as cells, pathogens, viruses, and chemicals as well. You can also use an electron microscope to see the structural makeup of a specific specimen, its atomic structure, behavior, and property plus its reaction to the environment or relationship to another specimen.