• Question: What machines do you use to see the tiny cages? At school we use microscopes to see small things.

    Asked by anon-227012 to Georgia on 13 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Georgia Orton

      Georgia Orton answered on 13 Nov 2019:

      Every microscope has a resolution limit. This just means that every microscope has a limit on the size it can see. Optical microscopes, like the ones you have probably used, are nowhere near powerful enough to look at something the size of a molecule.

      To understand how the atoms in my chemicals connect to form molecules I actually use X-rays and a technique called x-ray diffraction. The x-rays bounce off the atoms to give a picture which, with a lot of help from a computer which does some funky maths, gives me a picture of my molecule!

      My colleagues also use Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) to study molecules stuck onto surfaces! Their pictures are so cool.
      There are some really cool SEM images of pollen online: https://www.sciencephoto.com/set/2783/pollen-sem-images

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