What is an advantage of using an electron microscope?

Answer 1

Answer: Using an EM (electron microscope) you can look INSIDE a cell and take photos. This is different to an ordinary (or Light microscope) where you generally only see the outside of the cells - or at best can only see vague shapes inside the cell. Answer: The scanning electron microscope provides a number of advantages over an optical microscope. Primarily this centers around the fact that the wave lengths used are much smaller than the wavelengths of light. What you can see is, in par,t dependent on the relative size of the object and wavelength of the light you are using. For very small objects, like individual atoms, light just wont work. Secondly the electron microscope can be fitted out with equipment and analytical sensors to identify the atomic composition of materials in the field of view. These Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) are extremely useful in identifying trace contaminants. The standard microscope still has advantages. It can detect the polarizing capacity of organic compounds, it is cheap and easy to use, it can be used in the analysis of stained samples in microbiology, it can use transmitted light and reflected light to examine an object. A major advantage is that the surface of the viewed object does not have to be prepared by being covered with a very thin layer of metal to permit viewing.