I am having a lot of difficulty understanding why a light microscope has such low magnification and resolution power. I know that this is somehow due to the light energy it uses being unable to detect matter smaller than half the size of its own wavelength (which is reasonably long). However, I'm not entirely clear about the detailed reasons for the reduced resolution. Clearly the magnification is low because microscopic matter below a certain size cannot be detected (because it doesn't interrupt the light waves) but I believe that the resolution problem also has something significantly to do with the type of lenses that are used in that design of microscope and the way they cause the light to refract as it passes through them. Is it that there is a specific type of lens required for a microscope of such low magnification, however this type of lens causes unavoidable effects that are detrimental to the intrument's resolution? What are the exact reasons? The resolution is to do with interference between different structures that are close together. How does this occur and why is it such a problem for a microscope that uses light? I am really confused about this!
I hope that this post is suitable for this subforum.
Thank you