We see objects in the light path because or natural pigmentation stains absorb light or because they are differentially, thick enough to absorb a significant amount of light. A microscope can be a simple microscope, or a compound microscope. a. a simple microscope uses a single lens to look at the sample. b. a microscopes uses a series of to the apparent image much lenses and mirrors closer than is possible with a single lens. When microscopes, we generally think in terms of the it can provide. magnification However, magnification is much less important to microscopy than resolution. The resolution of an optical microscope is defined as Resolution. the shortest distance by the observer or between two points on a specimen that can still be distinguished camera system as separate entities Therefore, More simply, the smaller the resolution, the better we see details of the image. good resolution of two nearby points provides a clear view of two distinct points while Since magnifying blurry blobs poor resolution would result in a single blurry blob. would not serve much purpose, resolution is clearly more important than magnification. The of a microscope resolution is dependent on a some factors: most crucially the wavelength of the being used. The shorter the wavelength, the smaller (and better) the resolution. Another factor is the speed of light through the various components of the It is sufficient to know that these physical constraints limit light system. microscopy. Light microscope resolution is 1000 times better than the naked eye, therefore the limit of magnification is about 1000-fold. has much higher resolution (up to about 1,000,000-fold Electron microscopy magnification) due to the much of electron beams in shorter wavelength comparison to light beams. Resolution depends on numerical aperture
We see objects in the light path because natural pigmentation or stains absorb light differentially, or because they are thick enough to absorb a significant amount of light. A microscope can be a simple microscope, or a compound microscope. a. a simple microscope uses a single lens to look at the sample. b. a microscopes uses a series of lenses and mirrors to the apparent image much closer than is possible with a single lens. When microscopes, we generally think in terms of the magnification it can provide. However, magnification is much less important to microscopy than resolution. Resolution. The resolution of an optical microscope is defined as the shortest distance between two points on a specimen that can still be distinguished by the observer or camera system as separate entities Therefore, the smaller the resolution, the better we see details of the image. More simply, good resolution of two nearby points provides a clear view of two distinct points while poor resolution would result in a single blurry blob. Since magnifying blurry blobs would not serve much purpose, resolution is clearly more important than magnification. The resolution of a microscope is dependent on a some factors: most crucially the wavelength of the being used. The shorter the wavelength, the smaller (and better) the resolution. Another factor is the speed of light through the various components of the system. It is sufficient to know that these physical constraints limit light microscopy. Light microscope resolution is 1000 times better than the naked eye, therefore the limit of magnification is about 1000-fold. Electron microscopy has much higher resolution (up to about 1,000,000-fold magnification) due to the much shorter wavelength of electron beams in comparison to light beams. Resolution depends on numerical aperture