• Question: how big are microscapes

    Asked by jarrad stoddart to Theo, Philip, Kerry, Alex on 13 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Alex Pool

      Alex Pool answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      Microscopes come in all shapes and sizes. Some are small like the ones you’ll have in your labs at schools. The one I use is the size of a big school desk, it’s that big as it shines lazers at the cells so needs a lot of equipment.

      The one Kerry uses will be about double that size as it uses electrons. So they can be really big. Normally the bigger it is the smaller the thing you can see.

    • Photo: Philip Ratcliffe

      Philip Ratcliffe answered on 13 Nov 2014:

      How big are cars? How big are dogs? It all depends, there are big microscopes (note the spelling) and small ones. I’m surprised you’ve never seen the sort they sell even in some (good) toy shops. Anyway, the classical microscope is about as big as a serious dictionary. It’s the sort of thing you can use to look at snowflakes close up (if you’re quick enough), or sections of leaves or insects’ wings …
      There are all sorts of microscopes though that don’t necessarily use the light our eyes can see and this means they become much more complicated machines, much bigger and can start to be as big as a small car (a mini, say).

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