Microscopes

Microscopes have different degrees of magnification but when we compare light microscopes and electron microscopes it is safe to say that the electron microscopes have higher magnification. One example of these microscopes is the transmission electron microscope. The transmission electron microscope is capable of magnifying up to 100,000X the size of the microorganism. The compound light microscopes are great for a different number of utilities and they are separated in several types with different uses and purposes. The compound light microscopes are able to magnify objects up to 400X and they are able to increase the magnification up to 4000X if the microorganism is immerse in oil. The sample preparations are more complex with the electron microscope. The organisms viewed by the light microscope can be alive or dead. The organisms viewed by the electron microscopes have to be “fixed, dehydrated, and viewed under a high vacuum to prevent electron scattering.” (Tortora, 2010)

2. To be able to determine the relative sizes of two eukaryotic cells I would use a compound light microscope either the brightfield or the darkfield microscopes would be suitable for this job. In order to determine how many bacteria are dying after a chemical treatment the proper microscope to use should be the fluorescence microscope. If my purpose is to determine where in a eukaryotic cell a particular protein is localized the best tool for the job would be the transmission electron microscope. When I try to identify a virus from a sample that has been contaminated the choice is the scanning electron microscope. I would use the compound light microscope to visualize the sensory hairs on the surface of an ant’s antennae because it is not so small that it needs to have a more powerful solution.

3. Staining is not a difficult to prepare and are a good starting point to identify different organisms. Bacteria can be grouped based on the staining capabilities. The...