Best Microscope for Research

A microscope for research can be an expensive gadget to have in your lab, yet this piece of equipment is essential if you are going to carry out your work properly.

Many different types are on the market today from which to choose. For example, there is the confocal microscope, which uses lasers, and there is the transmission electron microscope, which uses the excitability of electrons to see the images.

No matter what type of microscope you use for in your laboratory, research has certainly come a long way since 1674.

Biologists who are studying various diseases in the hope of finding a cure make use of four principle types of microscope in the course of their research.

These are the:

• Compound microscope
• Dissection microscope
• Scanning electron microscope
• Transmission electron microscope

Both the scanning electron and transmission electron microscopes utilize electrons and their excitability in order to view objects. The scanning microscope sees images in three dimensions while the transmission microscope sees them in two dimensions. As its name suggests, a dissection microscope is used for close up work and magnifies smaller specimens so that they can be dissected. Compound microscopes are the most popular and allow you to view the image at the cellular level, unlike the dissection scope.

Other types of microscope for research are the confocal microscope and the atomic force microscope. The confocal uses lasers in order to view images that are then viewed on a computer monitor. The atomic force scope is similar to the SEM, but while the items in the scanning scope use a vacuum, an atomic scope does not. These are both very high tech scopes that can make research very interesting with the images that can be viewed.

Using a microscope for research has proven to be an invaluable tool for many researchers. Since the beginnings of microscopy and its discoveries, the world of microscopes has advanced beyond what the founders first imagined. Understanding these magnifying instruments can prove to be hard for the average person because of their highly specialized and intricate parts. However, the work that is produced can save a person's life or that of a loved one. Microscopes are a needed necessity in today's world, and the more high tech they can become, in order to help us humans, the better.