Electron microscope

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An electron microscope is a type of microscope that uses a particle beam of electrons to illuminate a specimen and create a highly-magnified image. Electron microscopes have much greater resolving power than light microscopes that use electromagnetic radiation and can obtain much higher magnifications of up to 2 million times, while the best light microscopes are limited to magnifications of 2000 times. Both electron and light microscopes have resolution limitations, imposed by the wavelength of the radiation they use. The greater resolution and magnification of the electron microscope is because the wavelength of an electron; its de Broglie wavelength is much smaller than that of a photon of visible light.

The electron microscope uses electrostatic and electromagnetic lenses in forming the image by controlling the electron beam to focus it at a specific plane relative to the specimen. This manner is similar to how a light microscope uses glass lenses to focus light on or through a specimen to form an image.

For more information about Electron microscope, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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News tagged with electron microscopy

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An easy way to see the world's thinnest material

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Dec 23, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (12) | comments 1

It's been used to dye the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day. It's been used to find latent blood stains at crime scenes. And now researchers at Northwestern University have used it to examine the thinnest material ...


Nanoparticles go platinum: NCEM instruments provide key images

Nanoparticles go platinum: NCEM instruments provide key images

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

At Berkeley Lab's National Center for Electron Microscopy it was revealed that single-stranded DNA can disperse bundles of single-walled carbon nanotubes into individual tubes and serve as guideposts for synthesizing ...


Elusive protein points to mechanism behind hearing loss

Elusive protein points to mechanism behind hearing loss

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Dec 08, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A serendipitous discovery of deaf zebra fish larvae has helped narrow down the function of an elusive protein necessary for hearing and balance. The work, led by Rockefeller University’s A. ...


Microscopy reveals structure of calcite shells

Microscopy reveals structure of calcite shells

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 30, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Lara Estroff and colleagues have taken a deep, detailed look at the way lab-created calcite crystals, similar to those found in nature, grow in tandem with proteins and other large molecules.


RNA on the move

RNA on the move

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 26, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

In the fruit fly Drosophila, oskar mRNA, which is involved in defining the animal’s body axes, is produced in the nuclei of nurse cells neighbouring the oocyte, and must be transported to the oocyte and along ...


Computational microscope peers into the working ribosome

Computational microscope peers into the working ribosome (w/ Video)

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 2

Two new studies reveal in unprecedented detail how the ribosome interacts with other molecules to assemble new proteins and guide them toward their destination in biological cells. The studies used molecular ...


Small nanoparticles bring big improvement to medical imaging

Small nanoparticles bring big improvement to medical imaging

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

If you're watching the complex processes in a living cell, it is easy to miss something important—especially if you are watching changes that take a long time to unfold and require high-spatial-resolution ...


Understanding mechanical properties of silicon nanowires paves way for nanodevices

Understanding mechanical properties of silicon nanowires paves way for nanodevices

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 11, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Silicon nanowires are attracting significant attention from the electronics industry due to the drive for ever-smaller electronic devices, from cell phones to computers. The operation of these future devices, ...


Imaging a catalyst one atom at a time

Imaging a catalyst one atom at a time

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Nov 09, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 2

(PhysOrg.com) -- The catalytic processes that facilitate the production of many chemicals and fuels could become much more environmentally friendly thanks to a breakthrough achieved by researchers from Lehigh ...


Gene mutation may reveal clues for treating lung diseases

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Oct 15, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A genetic mutation found in four children born with multiple abnormalities may provide insight into potential treatments for newborn lung distress and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).


Silence of the genes

Silence of the genes

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Oct 13, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2

The molecular architecture of a protein complex that helps determine the fate of human cells has been imaged for the first time by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National ...


To peer inside a living cell

To peer inside a living cell

Physics / General Physics

created Oct 06, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 3

(PhysOrg.com) -- Quantum mechanics could help build ultra-high-resolution electron microscopes that won't destroy living cells, according to MIT electrical engineers.


Caltech scientists get detailed glimpse of chemoreceptor architecture in bacterial cells

Scientists get detailed glimpse of chemoreceptor architecture in bacterial cells

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 24, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Using state-of-the-art electron microscopy techniques, a team led by researchers from Caltech has for the first time visualized and described the precise arrangement of chemoreceptors—the receptors that sense ...


Neurons found to be similar to Electoral College

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Sep 14, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0

A tiny neuron is a very complicated structure. Its complex network of dendrites, axons and synapses is constantly dealing with information, deciding whether or not to send a nerve impulse, to drive a certain action.


Study shows how disruption of spectrin-actin network causes lens cells in the eye to lose shape

Study shows how disruption of spectrin-actin network causes lens cells in the eye to lose shape

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Sep 14, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A network of proteins underlying the plasma membrane keeps epithelial cells in shape and maintains their orderly hexagonal packing in the mouse lens, say Nowak et al. The study will appear in the September ...