* Light Microscopes: These microscopes use visible light to illuminate and magnify objects. They can magnify objects up to about 1,000 times. However, the wavelength of visible light is too large to resolve objects smaller than about 200 nanometers. Viruses are much smaller than this.
* Electron Microscopes: These microscopes use a beam of electrons instead of light. Electrons have a much shorter wavelength than visible light, allowing them to resolve much smaller objects. Electron microscopes can magnify objects up to several million times.
Therefore, an electron microscope is essential to visualize viruses due to their extremely small size.
