Magnifying Glasses

When light travels through a vacuum and even in air, it moves at a very fast speed due to all of the space in between the particles that make up the medium. As soon as the light passes through a medium that is denser, the light cannot travel as quickly. When the light decreases in speed it causes a change in direction bending toward the normal. This is called refraction.

 

A magnifying glass uses refraction to magnify objects and lets us see them in lots of detail. Without refraction, our eyes we wouldn’t be able to focus the image (How does a Magnifyning Glass Make Things Apear Bigger?, 2014).

 

Refraction works in a magnifying glass by having each beam of light entering the lens at a slightly different angle. The beams of light come together at one single point which is known as the focal point. If someone was to look into a magnifying glass at the focal point the light would bounce off your eyes and go back through the magnifying glass. The parallel lines would then become spread out and go through the glass again making the image magnified. (Refraction and Magnification, 2015)