Ask A Scientist© Biology Archive

Author:      stacy
Text:        What type of Microscope has the highest magnification?

Response #:  1 of 1
Author:      moodywj
Text:        The electron microscope can magnify much more than any microscope 
that uses light, although newer atomic microscopes may do even better.  The 
reason the electron microscope does this is because the wavelength of a beam 
of electrons is smaller than the wavelength of light you can see.  A 
microscope cannot see things smaller than its own wavelength, so therefore the 
electron microscope can see smaller things than a light microscope.