DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIGHT MICROSCOPE AND ELECTRON MICROSCOPE

 Difference between Light Microscope and Electron Microscope

S.No	Features	Light Microscope	Electron Microscope
1	Invented by	Zoocharia Janseen in 1590	Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll in 1931
2	Also known as	Optical microscope	Beam microscope
3	Major types	Bright field, Dark field, Phase contrast, Fluorescence microscope, Confocal Microscope, Polarised microscope and Differential Interference Confocal Microscope	Scanning Electron Microscope and Transmission Electron Microscope
4	Principle	The image is formed by the absorption of light waves.	The image is formed by scattering or transmission of electrons.
5	Size and handling	Compact and Handy	Large and Complicated
6	Highest practical magnification	About 4000	Over 10,00,000
7	Best Resolution	0.2 µm	0.5 nm
8	Illuminating source	Visible light with wavelength of 450 to 750 nm	Electron beam with wavelength of 0.5 A°
9	Filament used	Absent	Tungsten filament is used
10	Lens used	Eye piece, Objective lens and Condenser lens	Condenser lens, Objective lens and Projector lens
11	Lens Type	Glass	Electromagnet
12	Voltage requirement	No need for high voltage electricity	Need for high voltage electricity (Above 50,000 volts)
13	Vaccum requirement	Vaccum not required	Required high Vaccum
14	Specimen preparation	Simple	Complex
15	Specimen used	5 µm thick specimen can be easily visualized	Only thin specimen up to 0.1 µm can be visualized
16	Duration for Specimen preparation	Few minutes to few hours	Several days
17	Specimen mount	Glass slide	Metal grid (usually Copper)
18	Specimen dehydration	No need to dehydrate the specimens	Only dehydrated specimens are used
19	Specimen type	Both living and fixed specimens can be studied.	Only fixed specimens are studied.
20	Cooling system	Present	Absent
21	Method of changing magnification	Switch the objective lens or eye piece	Adjust current to the magnetic lens
22	Magnification power	Low, detailed structure cannot be studied	High, gives 3D structure of an object
23	Image obtained	Coloured	Black and White
24	Uses	Used to study the detailed gross Internal structure.	Used to study the External surface, Ultrastructure of cell and very small organisms.
25	For Contrast of the Image	Specimen is stained with Dyes	Specimen is coated with Heavy metals.
26	Image observation	Image is seen by naked eye through Ocular lens (Eye piece)	Image is received on Zinc sulphate Fluorescent screen or Photographic plate
27	Working	Easy to operate	Requires technically skilled persons to operate
28	Radiation leakage	Absent	Present
29	Cost	Low	High
30	Room setting	No special settings are required.	Requires room where humidity, pressure, and temperature are controlled.
31	Photography	Not possible	Possible
32	Suitability or Practicality	Suitable for most basic functions, and is very common in schools and other learning institutions.	Limited to specialized use such as research.