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How far can we zoom in?

This activity will take 15 minutes, is for ages 7 to 10 with no supervision needed. You can do this activity anywhere!

Let's look at some really, really tiny things.

Light microscopes help us look at living cells. A light microscope shines light on a sample to make a picture of it. It uses lenses (like the ones in glasses that people use to see) to magnify the picture.

This makes it look bigger so that scientists can see it clearly. These microscopes can make a sample look 2,000 times bigger.

Because light microscopes don’t damage cells, the cells can still be alive when we look at them. You can even see them moving! In this video, you’ll see a plant called algae moving and growing under the microscope.

When you’re using light microscopes, you can also dye parts of a cell with different colours that glow when you shine an ultraviolet light on them. Scientists dye things like DNA, bacteria and viruses so that they can spot them under the microscope.

To look even closer, we use a different kind of microscope called an electron microscope. Instead of using a beam of light, electron microscopes use a beam of tiny particles called electrons.

Because electrons are so small, they help us see even smaller things than light microscopes. Electron microscopes can zoom in millions of times.