Electron versus Light

microscope
An electron microscope is a microscope that uses beams of electrons
instead of rays of visible light to form highly magnified images of tiny
areas materials or biological specimens. Comparing light vs electron
microscopes is made more complicated by the fact that there are
different types of electron microscopes.
• Electron microscopes use electron beams focused by electromagnets to
magnify and resolve microscopic specimens
• Transmission electron microscopes (TEM) generate high resolution
cross-sections of objects
• Scanning electron microscopes (SEM) display enhanced depth to map
the surface of objects in 3D
Electron microscopes have two key advantages over light
microscopes:

• They have a much higher range of magnification (can detect

smaller structures)

• They have a much higher resolution (can provide clearer and

more detailed images)

Some disadvantage of electron microscopes are that they

cannot display living specimens in natural colours