Mesothelioma Prognosis

Mesothelioma Prognosis

What is electron microscopy?

Electron microscopy is a technique that requires highly complex instruments and highly skilled personnel for the proper development and deepened in certain areas of study, especially in medicine or biology. Agents of disease, benign cells or edema are some great finds, thanks to the development of microscopy have made both scientific and social progress. I’ll start by mentioning that the main component of the microscope is undoubtedly the electron microscope.

Electron microscope

An electron microscope is one that uses electrons instead of photons or visible light to form images of tiny objects. Electron microscopes allow increased capacity to reach far greater than conventional microscopes (up to 2 × compared with the best optical microscopes) because the wavelength of the electrons is much smaller than that of the photons ‘visible’.

An electron microscope image as it works with an electron beam generated by an electron gun, accelerated by a high voltage and focused by magnetic lenses (all at high vacuum because the electrons are absorbed by air) . The electrons pass through the sample (properly dried) and the amplification is produced by a set of magnetic lenses that form an image on a photographic plate or on a screen sensitive to the impact of electrons transferred image formed on a computer screen. Electron microscopes can only see black and white because they do not use light, but colors can be given on the computer. As you can see, it works like a monochrome monitor.

Physical principles of electron microscopy

The main difference between electronic and optical microscopy is the use of a beam of electrons instead of light to focus the sample, achieving increases of up to two million times (106 X). Its design is based on two physical principles, one is the wave-particle predicted by Louis de Broglie in 1924, who derived an equation (λ = h / p, h is Planck’s constant) which allows to calculate the wavelength (λ) expected for a particle of mass m with momentum p (p = mv). In electron microscopy m represents the mass of an electron and λ takes values ​​in the range 0.388 to 0.00193 nm, depending on the acceleration voltage of electrons. The other physical principle that underlies the design of an electron microscope is the Lorentz law (F = e (VXB), indicating in this case, an electron traveling with velocity v in a magnetic field B experiences a force that makes the electron describing a helical path around the lines of B. In this way an electron microscope consists of electrostatic and electromagnetic lenses which play the same role as a glass lens for a microscope light.

Comparison between light and electron microscopes

The light and electron microscopes are essentially identical. Both of them allow us to amplify those objects that are indistinguishable to our eye. The fundamental difference between the two is the source of illumination. While the light microscope uses a beam of light in the range of visible wavelengths, the electron microscope uses an electron beam of short wavelength that allows for a higher resolution.

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