Seeing Things at the Nanoscale

Microscope

Magnifying glass illustration

Tools of the Trade

Most of us have seen or used a magnifying glass or a microscope; this is how we magnify small things to see them better. However, to see things at the nanoscale, we need some very special instruments. In this section we will learn about electron microscopes, atomic force microscopes and scanning tunneling microscopes and how they differ from the optical light microscopes we are used to using in a classroom. This article from our friends at the NNCI gives a great intro to different kinds of microscopes: https://www.nnci.net/seeing-nanoworld


Light Microscope	Scanning Electron Microscope	Transmission Electron Microscopy	Atomic Force Microscope	Scanning Tunneling Microscope

Basic light microscope (used for viewing at macroscale). Click here to watch a video on light microscopes from Amrita University	For an introduction to the scanning electron microscope watch Stuff of Genius' video here For more detail, our NNCI colleagues at Duke University teach us about a scanning electron microscope See SEM images. Click on SEM images, then Enter SEM Gallery: San Diego Nanotechnology institute image gallery	More on TEM here Gallery of TEM images here	To see the atomic force microscope at work watch LD SEF's video here To see a gallery of atomic force microscope images click here	This is a movie so small, you can only see it by magnifying it 100 million times! Each frame measures 45 x 25 nanometers! A Boy and His Atom was made using a scanning tunneling microscope. Watch the movie here

Other Resources

The Microscopic Scale

Defining the Microscopic Scale

Within the scale of all things sits the microscopic scale, which can be thought of as the sizes of things that can be detected using microscopes.

Seeing the Nanoworld

Magnifying Objects

“If nanoscale objects are so small (1 to a few hundred nm) then how can you see them?” To see nanostructures it takes some pretty sophisticated instruments To answer that question we need to explore how we magnify objects.

Microscope World

See Many Amazing Photos Here

Microscope World showcases a collection of stunning photos ranging from rainbow-colored polymers to the complex structures inside of plants and minerals.