Light & electron microscope

• Light microscope


  Microscope that uses light, small, easy to use, relatively cheap
• Resolution of light microscope

  Limited to 0.2 micrometers, any details less than 0.2 micrometers apart will appear blurry
• What light microscopes can be used to see

  • Individual cells like onion cells
• Electron microscope


  Really big, very expensive, hard to use, only used by scientists in laboratories
• Resolution of electron microscope

  Maximum resolution of 0.1 nanometers, 2000 times better than light microscopes
• What electron microscopes can be used to study

  • Sub-cellular structures like mitochondria
• Electron microscopes can give images with much higher magnifications without going blurry
• Light microscopes


  Limited resolution, cannot see sub-cellular structures
• Electron microscopes


  Very high resolution, can see sub-cellular structures