Answer
The principal use for scanning acoustic microscopy, or SAM, is to study living cells which are attached to something else. Examples of such cells are artery plaque and cancer cells.
Work Step by Step
1. Scanning acoustic microscopy, or SAM, consists of sending a sound wave through a specimen and decoding how it travels.
2. If the sound wave collides with an interface between the specimen and another material, part of the sound wave is reflected back.
3. This property is useful in studying living cells which are attached to other specimens.
4. For example, using SAM on an artery enables us to study the plaque that is attached to that artery.
