MicrobeWorld

Light

Light microscopes may be familiar to you from biology classes.

Light microscopes can magnify an object up to 1,000 times. Good light microscopes are powerful enough to view most algae, fungi, and protozoa.

High-quality light microscopes (pictured right) generally allow viewing of bacterial cells, too. They can’t view viruses, however, as these tiny objects are smaller than a wavelength of visible light (about 0.2 microns). Nor can they readily allow scientists to examine individual tiny parts of cells in detail.To view extremely tiny objects, scientist use electron microscopes.