ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Photocopying

Photocopying means making a copy of a piece of paper or a picture, by using a special machine called a photocopier.

Imagine you have a picture of a cute puppy. You want to give this picture to your friend, but you still want to keep it for yourself too. So, what can you do? You can make a copy of the picture using a photocopying machine!

Firstly, you need to put the picture face down on the glass surface of the photocopier. Then, you close the lid so that the picture is trapped inside the machine, just like if you close your book or your lunchbox.

Next, you press a button or two on the photocopier to make it start copying. The machine quickly takes a picture of your picture, and transfers that picture onto a new piece of paper. This paper comes out of the photocopier, and you can take it out to see that it looks just like the original!

You can make copies of as many pictures or pieces of paper as you want by repeating this process multiple times. It's just like making a cake – you can keep making more and more copies of the same recipe, as long as you have enough ingredients!

Photocopying is a helpful way of copying important documents, pictures, or information that you want to keep safe. So, next time you need to copy something, just remember that the photocopier is like a magical machine that can create identical copies of whatever you put inside it!