4.1 How cells are studied

The advantages of light microscopes are that they are easily obtained, and the light beam does not kill the cells. However, typical light microscopes are somewhat limited in the amount of detail that they can reveal. Electron microscopes are ideal because you can view intricate details, but they are bulky and costly, and preparation for the microscopic examination kills the specimen. Transmission electron microscopes are designed to examine the internal structures of a cell, whereas a scanning electron microscope only allows visualization of the surface of a structure.