Disadvantages of Electron Microscopes

Ever since microscopy first came into being together with the widespread use of microscopes for scientific research, continual development has taken place in order to come up with the best possible magnifying instrument for the job. Electron microscopes are sophisticated types of magnification devices that offer researchers and scientists the opportunity to look at items in a completely different light.

The images provided by the various types of electron microscope are of very high quality and can be magnified many more times than traditional light microscopes. This has resulted in the advancement of research to new levels. However, they are also very expensive to build and maintain which means that you need to carefully consider what you are looking for in a microscope before investing in one.
One of the reasons that an electron microscope is so costly is due to the voltage that is required in order to operate these microscopes. Light microscopy and the microscopes that are used with it are great for the average hobbyist, but the electron microscope is not for those folks. These costly magnifying tools can run into the thousands of dollars to buy which is why they are more common in studies with big budgets that also require the much superior levels of magnification.

Besides the cost, today’s electron microscopes have additional disadvantages that need to be taken into account. One of these is in how the samples have to be prepared. Since this is an electron scope, the electron particles need to be excited and coated with certain materials, such as gold in some instances, in order to be seen properly. In addition, specimens also have to be viewed within a vacuum tube and if those samples are not prepared correctly, the microscope images will not view properly.

It is fair to say that electron microscopes we have today have come a long way since the beginning of microscopy. You are now able to see things as small as the individual molecules that make up microscope images. However, you should definitely do your homework before investing in an electron microscope since the time involved in prepping samples and making sure that the specimen is ready for viewing can be too much for many researchers. On the other hand, if you are going to invest in one of these devices, the images that can be produced from these microscopes can be truly awe-inspiring.