If we doubled the magnifying power of the most powerful optical microscope in the world, we would
A)be able to see individual atoms.
B)be able to photograph individual atoms, even though we couldn't see them.
C)still not be able to see or photograph an atom.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The most powerful optical microscope can magnify up to around 2000 times, which already allows us to observe objects as small as a bacterium. However, atoms are much smaller than that and cannot be observed with an optical microscope, even if its magnifying power was doubled. This is because the wavelength of visible light is much larger than the size of an atom, which makes it impossible to distinguish individual atoms using this type of microscope. Therefore, even with a higher magnifying power, we would still not be able to see or photograph an atom.

If We Doubled the Magnifying Power of the Most Powerful