Here we zoom into the real SEM image of the letter V on a Virginia quarter coin. The V is about 1.5 mm tall.
The coin is new and shiny but the SEM image (taken in secondary electron mode) strongly emphasizes bumps and scratches.
For an SEM, this is still a LOW magnification image. In fact, when we turned up the magnification (by turning down the gain on the X-Y sweep to the SEM) we could more than fill the screen with a single scratch on the coin. The image looked a bit like the inside of a crater on the moon!
