How To Make A Magnifying Glass

DIY Magnifying Glass

Can you make a magnifying glass out of a plastic bottle and water?

Supplies:

• 2 Liter plastic bottle
• Scissors
• Water
• Dropper
• Small print

Instructions:

STEP 1: Cut a lens-shaped (this means it has curved sides) piece of plastic out of the neck of a 2-liter bottle.

Pin

Pin

STEP 2: Find some small print to read.

STEP 3: Add drops of water to the center of your plastic lens.

STEP 4: Now look at the small print through the water. Does it look any different?

Pin

Extend the activity by changing the type of liquid you use on the plastic lens. What difference does it make?

Pin

How Does a Magnifying Glass Work?

Magnifying glasses are great fun for making many different objects appear larger. They also have lots of real-world applications. We use them in microscopes, binoculars, telescopes, and even to help people with reading.

Without the ability to magnify objects, we wouldn’t know much about things we can’t see with the naked eye like bacteria and viruses, or far-away things, like stars and galaxies. Find out how a magnifying glass works thanks to some simple optical physics.

A magnifying glass is a convex lens. Convex means it is curved outwards. It is the opposite of concave or curved inwards. A lens allows light rays to pass through it and bends the light as it does.

Light rays from the object enter the magnifying glass in straight lines but are bent or refracted by the convex lens so that they come together as they exist to create an image on your eye. This image appears to be larger than the object itself.

To make a homemade magnifying glass, you need a curved clear plastic lens (our piece cut from the bottle) and a drop of water. The curved plastic acts as a holder for the water drop, which works like a magnifier.

Notice what happens to the small type when you look through the water drop on your homemade magnifier. The surface of the water drop curves to make a dome, and this curvature bends the light rays inward like a real magnifying glass. This makes the object appear bigger than it is.

Any clear liquid will work to refract light. The magnification factor will vary depending on the type of liquid you use. Test out different clear liquids for a fun science experiment!

Click here to get your free printable DIY magnifier project!

Pin