Lens (optics)

A lens is like a special piece of glass that can make things look bigger or smaller. Remember when you looked through a magnifying glass and it made tiny things look really big? That's because magnifying glasses are a type of lens.

So, how does a lens work? Well, when light (the stuff that helps us see things) travels through a lens, it bends, or refracts, the light. This bending helps us see things more clearly.

Have you ever noticed how far away things look smaller and closer things look bigger? That's also because of lenses! Cameras, telescopes, and binoculars all use different kinds of lenses to help us see far away things more clearly.

There are many different shapes and sizes of lenses, each one designed to do a different job. Some lenses are flat, some are curved, and some are even shaped like a ball! No matter the shape or size, though, all lenses work to help us see the world more clearly.