What makes a microscope work?

Answer 1

There are three types of basic microscopes: Electron Microscopes, Simple Light Microscopes, and Compound Light Microscopes. Simple [light] Microscopes work by focusing light through one lens. The most common lens, the Convex Lens, works by being thicker in the center than the edge. This bends the light, altering the image as it hits the second lens, your retina. A Compound [light] Microscope works differently. It is the most common microscope for everyday use, using a mirror to shine light up through a slide containing a specimin. Next, the ray of light shines up through a series of lenses, bending the light and multiplying the magnification and resolution levels of the image, until it hits your retina. Robert Hooke used a very complex compound microscope to observe cells through a thin slice of cork wood. The Electron Microscope is the most technologically advanced and, in my opinion, the coolest type yet. In fact, the electron microscope was so complex that it was not discovered until the late 1930's. It uses a beam of electrons instead of light to magnify an image. This allows you to get a much closer image with much higher resolution than with a regular light microscope. The most complex light microscope can only magnify an image up to 5000 times. An electron microscope can easily double that, a recently founded electron microscope can magnify an image up to 150,000 times. To work, this microscope actually borrows electrons from atoms, and as long as they return the electrons to the atoms, there is still perfect balance.