In scientific terms, an electron microscope is a type of microscope that uses an electron beam to illuminate a specimen and produce a magnified image. It has greater resolving power than a light optical microscope and can reveal the structure of smaller objects because electrons have wavelengths about 100,000 times shorter than visible light photons. Continue reading to see sixteen incredible images of everyday things placed under an electron microscope.

Electron microscopes can achieve better than 50 pm resolution and magnifications of up to about 10,000,000x whereas ordinary, non-confocal light microscopes are limited by diffraction to about 200 nm resolution and useful magnifications below 2000x. The electron microscope uses electrostatic and electromagnetic lenses to control the electron beam and focus it to form an image. These electron optical lenses are analogous to the glass lenses of an light optical microscope.

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