Optical Microscopy• Place the cut jelly ball on the acetate (plastic) sheet.

• How have the letters changed?

The ScienceThe cut jelly ball will have magnified the newsprint because the ball had a curved upper surface and the flat bottom was transparent. This shape bends (refracts) the light reflected from the object in much the same manner as a glass-magnifying lens. The cut jelly ball is a piano-convex lens (one surface flat, one surface curved out). The smaller the jelly ball the greater the curvature of the upper surface and the greater magnification of the object underneath. The larger balls do not magnify as much because there was not as much of a curve in the larger drops. Although the smaller balls magnify as much because there was not as much of a curve in the larger drop although the smaller drops magnified more, there was less area that could be seen.