Differences between Light Microscope and Electron Microscope

Light MicroscopeElectron Microscope
Illuminating source is the Light.Illuminating source is the beam of electrons.
Specimen preparation takes usually few minutes to hours.Specimen preparation takes usually takes few days.
Live or Dead specimen may be seen.Only Dead or Dried specimens are seen.
Condenser, Objective and eye piece lenses are made up of glasses.All lenses are electromagnetic.
It has low resolving power (0.25µm to 0.3µm).It has high resolving power (0.001µm), about 250 times higher  than light microscope.
It has a magnification of of 500X to 1500X.It has a magnification of 100,000X to 300,000X.
The object is 5µm or thicker.The object is 0.1µm or thinner.
Image is Colored.Image is Black and White.
Vacuum is not required.Vacuum is essential for its operation.
There is no need of high voltage electricity.High voltage electric current is required (50,000 Volts and above).
There is no cooling system.It has a cooling system to take out heat generated by high electric current.
Filament is not used.Tungsten filament is used to produce electrons.
Radiation risk is absent.There is risk of radiation leakage.
Specimen is stained by colored dyes.Specimen is coated with heavy metals in order to reflect electrons.
Image is seen by eyes through ocular lens.Image is received in Zinc Sulphate Fluorescent Screen or Photographic Plate.
It is used for the study of detailed gross internal structure.It is used in the study of external surface, ultra structure of cell and very small organisms.
Light MicroscopeElectron Microscope

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7 thoughts on “Differences between Light Microscope and Electron Microscope”

  1. I prefer light microscope because it doesn’t result in destruction of cellular organisations like the electronic

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  2. There are two basic parts in a microscope, the slide and the cell that hold it. The slide is what is in between the objective and the cell, while the cell is what holds the object. There are even some microscope designs that combine both the slides and the cells into one single unit.

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  3. the electronic microscope is better than the light microscope because the electronic microscope has more characteristics than the light microscope.

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  4. Which microscope you choose depends on what you are using it for, if you are looking for very small sub cellular structures such as ribosomes or bacterial cells then you need an electron microscope, but if you need to just see a tissue or a cell as a whole then use an light microscope.

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    • Each microscope has it own advantages and disadvantages, so it determine which one are you having but to me light microscope is better because is less expensive and is easy to maintain and radiation risk is absent and you can also be able to study living organisms.

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  5. No we cannot say this because electron microscope is dangerous and also give black and white image also it is not economical so light microscope is better

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  6. I think the electronic microscope is better than the light microscope because the electronic microscope has more characteristics than the light microscope.

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