What part of the atom is actually visible under the microscope?

Answer 1

In other words, optical microscopes are not able to see atoms. The reason that TEM and AFM are able to "see" the shapes of atoms is that they use a medium to interact with the atoms, and the information gathered from this interaction is then translated into an image.

Using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) as an example, the force between the probe tip and the specimen surface atoms is measured. Since the potential changes when two atoms are separated, AFM measures this force. As the probe tip scans across the specimen surface, it interacts with each atom (note that the probe tip is actually one or two atom size, extra extra sharp). This results in a collection of atomic forces for each atom. Using the two atom interaction curve as a guide, you can determine the distances between each atom and the probe tip, producing an atomic distance profile that is processed and transformed into an image that you can see, but you don't actually see atoms.

It is currently impossible, as far as I know, to create an optical microscope for studying atoms.

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Answer 2

With the use of sophisticated methods like electron microscopy, electrons can be seen under a microscope.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.

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