system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
If you had a properly sized lens completely free of any imperfection, could you build a magnifying glass that could see atoms?

If not, what about large molecules or cells?
gpt
No, because the wavelength of (visible) light is longer than the distances between atoms, so they cannot be distinguished are the therefore non-resolvable.  1000x magnification is about as far as light can go, which allows you to see bacteria, but not viruses.

Electron microscopes are instead used because the wavelength of electrons...or something...is short enough to distinguish between two objects at that scale.