What Are the Advantages of the Transmission Electron Microscope?
feuille gourbet image by cris13 from Fotolia.com jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery(‘#jsArticleStep1 span.image a:first’).attr(‘href’,’http://i.ehow.com/images/a06/0h/70/advantages-transmission-electron-microscope_-1.1-800X800.jpg’); }); A transmission electron microscope is capable of showing minute detail in cells. The scanning transmission electron microscope was developed in the 1950s. Instead of light, the transmission electron microscope uses a focused beam of electrons, which it sends through a sample in order to form an image. The advantage of the transmission electron microscope over an optical microscope is its ability to produce much greater magnification and show details that optical microscopes cannot. How the Microscope Works Transmission electron microscopes work similarly to optical microscopes but instead of light, or photons, they use a beam of electrons. An electron gun is the source of the electrons and functions like a light source in an optical microscope.