Electron Microscopes

• Another type of microscope is called an electron microscope.

• Electron microscopes use beams of electrons for viewing objects.

• They are large and very powerful microscopes that require specially trained technicians to operate them.

• There are two main types of electron microscopes – scanning electron microscopes and transmission electron microscopes.

• A scanning electron microscope (SEM) produces images of the surface structure of an object.

• The specimen does not need to be sliced as electrons reflect off the specimen.

• A transmission electron microscope (TEM) produces images of the internal structure of an object.

• The specimen needs to be sliced very thinly as electrons pass through the specimen.

Scanning electron microscopes (left) and transmission electron microscopes (right) are very powerful microscopes.

(Images: Teupdeg, Wikimedia Commons; David J Morgan, Wikimedia Commons)

• Images produced by electron microscopes are black and white, but they can be converted to colour using false colour imaging.

Image of a dust mite taken with a scanning electron microscope (left).
Image of virus particles taken with a transmission electron microscope (right).

(Images: WikiImages, Pixabay; Dartmouth College Electron Microscope Facility, Wikimedia Commons)